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Jf0Ks|akfos. 



LECTURES ON OUR LORD'S PARABLES. 



CUMMING'S WOEKS. 



UNIFORM EDITION. 



LINDSAY & BLAKISTON 

PUBLISH 

CUMMING'S APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES; 

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Price 75 cts. per volume, and sent by mail, free of postage, upon receipt of 
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The Rev. John Gumming, D.D., is now the great pulpit orator of London, 
as Edward Irving was some twenty years since. But very different is the 
Doctor to that strange, wonderfully eloquent, but erratic man. There could 
not by possibility be a greater contrast. The one all fire, enthusiasm, and 
semi-madness ; the other a man of chastened energy sLnd convincing calmness. 
The one like a meteor, flashing across a troubled sky, and then vanishing 
suddenly in the darkness; the other like a silver star, shining serenely, and 
illuminating our pathway with its steady ray. He is looked upon as the great 
champion of Protestantism in its purest form. His church is densely crowded 
by the most intellectual and thinking part of that crowded city, while his 
writings have reached a sale unequalled by those of any theological writer of 
the present day. His great work on the ^^ Apocalypse," upon which his great 
reputation as a writer rests, having already reached its 15th edition in England, 
while his '^ Lectures on the Miracles," and those on " Daniel," have passed 
through six editions of 1000 copies each, and his "Lectures on the Parables" 
through four editions, all within a comparatively short time. 



LECTUEES 

ON 

OUR LORD'S PARABLES. 



BY 



THE EEY. JOHN" CUl^IMrN'G, D.D. 

MINISTER OF THE SCOTCH NATIONAL CHURCH, AUTHOR OF APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES, 
LECTURES ON THE MIRACLES, DANIEL, ETC. ETC. 



PHILADELPHIA: 
LINDSAY AND BLAKISTON. 

1854. 



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EXCHANGE 

MAY 2d 1B**4 

Serial Record Division 
Thftl!- s?f (If im 



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3T3 7S 

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PKEFACE. 



This volume, which contains an exposition of the Parables 
of our Lord, especially in their prospective aspect, will, it is 
hoped, be found as useful and instructive as its predecessor. 
The field travelled over is most interesting and suggestive. 
Great truths are latent in every part, waiting for patient and 
persistent application in order to emerge, and enlighten, and 
cheer. Practical lessons are numerous and obvious. Both the 
one and the other, it is hoped, will be found intelligibly un- 
folded in these pages. 

Prophecy is a cartoon of the future, which events will fill 
up. Miracles are fore-acts of the future, done on a small 
present scale. Parables are foreshadows of the future, pro- 
jected on the sacred page. All three grow every day in ra- 
diance, in interest, in value. Soon the light of a Meridian Sun 
will overflow them all. May we be found ready ! 



1* 



CONTENTS. 



LECTURE PAGE 

1. THE COMINa HARVEST 9 

II. THE GREAT FESTIVAL 27 

III. THE ROYAL FEAST 46 

IV. A CONTRAST 58 

V. THE RETRIBUTION 77 

VL THE VINEYARD LABOURERS 97 

VII. THE FRUIT OF FORGIVENESS 116 

VIIL CERTAIN PROGRESS 126 

IX. THE FUTURE SEPARATION 135 

X. THE RICH FOOL U5 

XL TRUE RICHES 161 

XIL THE TWO WORSHIPPERS 169 

XIIL THE TWO WORSHIPPERS 191 

XIV. THE GOOD SAMARITAN 212 

7 



8 CONTENTS. 

LECTURE PAGE 

XV, THE SON OF GOD 230 

XVI. THE TWO GENERATIONS., 261 

XVII. FORGIVEN AND FORGIVING 272 

XVIII. THE BARREN FIG-TREE 295 

XIX. THE END OF THE YEAR 1848 315 

XX. THE LAST RECKONING 332 

XXI. THE LAST DISCRIMINATION 344 

XXIL THE MIDNIGHT CRY 360 



LECTUEES ON THE PAMELES. 



LECTURE I. 

THE COMING HARVEST. 



And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower 
went forth to sow; and when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and 
the fowls came and devoured them up : some fell upon stonj'- places, where 
they had not much earth : and forthwith they sprung up, because they had 
no deepness of earth: and when the sun was up, they were scorched; and 
because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns; 
and the thorns sprung up, and choked them ; but other fell into good ground, 
and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. 
Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. And the disciples came, and said unto 
him. Why speakest thou unto them in parables ? He answered and said unto 
them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of 
heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be 
given, and he shall have more abundance : but whosoever hath not, from 
him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in 
parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither 
do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which 
said. By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall 
see, and shall not perceive : for this people's heart is waxed gross, and their 
ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time 
they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should under- 
stand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. 
But blessed are your eyes, for they sec : and your ears, for they hear. For 
verily I say unto you. That many prophets and righteous men have desired 
to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear 
those things which ye hear, and have not heard them. Hear ye therefore the 
parable of the sower. When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and 
understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catchcd away that 
which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way 
side. But ho that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that 

9 



10 FORESHADOWS. 

heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it ; yet hath he not root in 
himself, but dureth for a while : for when tribulation or persecution ariseth 
because of the word, by and by he is offended. He also that received seed 
among the thorns is he that heareth the word ; and the care of this world, 
and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. 
But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, 
and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an 
hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. — Matt. xiii. 3-23. 

Hearken ; Behold, there went out a sower to sow ; and it came to pass, as he 
sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured 
it up. And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and 
immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth : but when tho 
sun was up, it was scorched; and because if had no root, it withered away. 
And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it 
yielded no fruit. And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that 
sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, 
and some an hundred. And he said unto them. He that hath ears to hear, 
let him hear. And when he was alone, they that were about him with the 
twelve asked of him the parable. And he said unto them, Unto you it is 
given to know the mystery of the kingdom of Grod : but unto them that are 
without, all these things are done in parables : that seeing they may see, 
and not perceive ; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at 
any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them. 
And he said unto them, Know ye not this parable ? and how then will ye 
know all parables ? — Makk iv. 3-13. 

A sower went out to sow his seed : and as he sowed, some fell by the way side ; 
and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. And some 
fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because 
it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns ; and the thorns sprang up 
with it, and choked it. And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and 
bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, 
He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. And his disciples asked him, saying, 
What might this parable be ? And he said. Unto you it is given to know the 
mj^steries of the kingdom of God : but to others in parables ; that seeing 
they might not see, and hearing they might not understand. — Luke viii. 
5-10. 

The parable is a far loftier vehicle of truth than the 
fable, and far more suited to the character and lessons of 
Jesus. It is the framework of a spiritual and a heavenly 
meaning, the network of silver, containing apples of gold ; 
the elaborately chased basket, replenished with the bread 
of everlasting life. It descends from the skies. It is a 
heavenly utterance. It is the consecrated messenger of 
God* The fable is the mere vehicle of prudential maxims, 



THE COMING HARVEST. 11 

of relative and social action, of domestic economy and 
prudence. It is the creation of man — the invention of 
genius — the device of human benevolence. The first 
teaches the morality and truth that God reveals and re- 
quires, and so shines in the splendour of its origin and 
end ; the second inculcates the efforts that man appreciates, 
and that the world applauds. They differ from each other 
as far as divine inspiration differs from human invention. 
The only two fables in the w^ord of God are contained in 
Judges ix. 8 : " The trees went forth on a time to anoint a 
king over them : and they said unto the olive tree, Reign 
thou over us. But the olive tree said unto them. Should 
I leave my fatness, wherewith by me they honour God and 
man, and go to be promoted over the trees ? And the trees 
said to the fig-tree. Come thou, and reign over us. But 
the fig-tree said unto them, Should I forsake my sweet- 
ness, and my good fruit, and go to be promoted over the 
trees ? Then said the trees unto the vine, Come thou, and 
reign over us. And the vine said unto them. Should I 
leave my wine, w^hich cheereth God and man, and go to be 
promoted over the trees ? Then said all the trees unto the 
bramble. Come thou, and reign over us. And the bramble 
said unto the trees. If in truth ye anoint me king over 
you, then come and put your trust in my shadow : and if 
not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars 
of Lebanon." — And in 2 Kings xiv. 9 : '' And Jehoash the 
king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying. The 
thistle that was in Lebanan sent to the cedar that w^as in 
Lebanon, saying. Give thy daughter to my son to wife : 
and there passed by a wild beast that was in Lebanon, 
and trode down the thistle." The first teaches the folly, 
not the sin, of making something a king ; by the second, 
Jehoash makes Amaziah see his pride — " Thou hast indeed 
smitten Edom, and thine heart hath lifted thee up." The 



12 FORESHADOWS. 

fable jests at the follies, and ridicules the faults, and taunts 
the disappointments of mankind; yet without responsi- 
bility or passion. But the parable never does so. It is 
full of righteous anger, of holy rebuke, and condemnation 
of wrong-doing ; it is always earnest, affectionate, solemn. 
The fable is fit for the instruction of the heathen that 
know not the gospel, in the hands of heathen teachers ; 
the parable is the appropriate instructor of those w^ho are 
possessed of the word of God, and teach and value the 
things that belong to their everlasting peace. 

The parable is also perfectly distinct from the allegory. 
''I am the true vine" — '^I am the good Shepherd" — are 
instances of the allegory. It differs from the parable in 
this, that it needs no accompanying interpretation. It 
is either designedly wrapped up in mystery, or it is per- 
fectly transparent of itself, and needs no running or ap- 
pended interpretation; it expounds itself. The parable is 
not a mere elucidation of a truth, but a vivid exposition 
of it : not only so, but it is a confirmation and proof of the 
truth. The parable is a witness summoned from the re- 
cesses of the outer world, to attest the truth and the reality 
of moral and spiritual things, and to prove that by unseen, 
but real roots, the productions of the moral and material 
universe cohere. It sounds deep and mysterious har- 
monies in every sphere and section of the universe, to 
show that earth has copies and prefigurations of heavenly 
things, beautiful even in their ruin, and that one hand 
made both the heaven and the earth, the soul and the 
body, the nutriment of the one and the maintenance of the 
other ; and that a deep, rich, and lasting unity runs, like 
a chord, through heaven and earth; and that this world, 
notwithstanding its defects, is God's world, yet to be re- 
stored, as this Book, with all its excellencies, is God's 
Book. 



THE COMING HARVEST. 13 

I believe that all relationships and excellencies on earth 
are but dim reflections of higher and sublimer ones in 
heaven. This corrects a notion of ours, that the Scrip- 
ture representations of God are the employment of merely 
human things, to depict, otherwise incomprehensible, 
spiritual and eternal things. This is not the fact. The 
human is only the lower form of the heavenly. The latter 
is the original, the former is the copy. Earth is the fore- 
shadow of the future. The relation of the husband and 
wife is not a happy human accident merely, illustrative of 
the relationship of Christ and his church, but it is a copy 
exhibited on earth of the grand and untouched original in 
heaven. Christ and his church is the original, the hus- 
band and wife are the feeble translation or the copy. 
Christ is called in Scripture a King; this is not a title 
borrowed from the earth, but Christ is the original, and 
his title is lent to man in order to reflect on earth a shadow 
of the heavenly, a foreshadow of the future King; and so 
kings are but the dim types of a higher mystery. Spring 
and harvest, sunbeam and rains, are not the archetypal 
things, after Avhich the heavenly are formed ; they are the 
mere copies, now mutilated by sin, of the holy originals 
that still breathe, and grow, and bloom in heaven. God 
sits on his throne, and the skirts of his majestic train 
stretch over the whole temple of creation. Material things 
are the sacred hieroglyphs of heavenly things. The sun 
and stars, and all things in creation, are to a Christian 
mind the teachers of God — lesson-books of his wisdom, his 
glory, his majesty, and his love — blossoms, apparent to 
the outward eye, indicative of the richness and the inex- 
haustible magnificence of that source which lies beyond' 
them, and from which they are all emanations. Mere 
teachers of science, ignorant of Christianity, thus enter- 
tain angels unawares. They handle things, whose mag- 

II. 6ER. 2 



14 FORESHADOWS. 

nificence they do not know; they study the relationships 
and the affinities of things, the moral magnificence and 
splendour, and rich and storied meaning of which they 
have not eyes to see, nor hearts to appreciate; they admire 
the mere typography of the book, they have no conception 
of its inner and glorious meaning; they are acquainted 
■with the outward mechanism of the instrument, but 
they have no idea of, incapable of hearing as they are, 
its sleeping tones. They are like a stranger gazing on 
the wondrous hieroglyphics of the Rosetta stone; they 
admire the form of the symbols, but they understand no- 
thing of the meaning which they were designed to convey. 
The parables are thus intended to awaken within us a 
sense of the glorious truths that sleep under the outward 
aspect of creation, to show that earth is not yet even out- 
worn, and dead, and destined to be cast away as a worth- 
less thing, but that it is pregnant with a rich, though 
hidden eloquence, carrying in its bosom grand, divine, but 
disguised truths; that it has been injured and tainted by 
sin, and hence is unable fully to express all its meaning, 
or to make known all its significance ; so much so, that it 
groans and travails in agony, that it cannot utter forth 
all it would and should, or be emancipated from the op- 
pressive powers that tie its tongue and weaken its elo- 
quence ; but even in this state it is only the more ex- 
pressive shadow of man, and of man's being upon its face. 
These are specimens of what earth will be, when it puts 
off its vfeek-day apparel, its soiled and dusty garments, 
and arrays itself in its millennial robes, in its Sabbath 
glory, and speaks of God as God's own great evangelist, 
and ministers before him to other orbs as his consecrated 
Levite, when all that overlays the truth shall be swept 
away, and every aspect of it shall be translucent with 
heavenly light, and it shall speak more eloquently than at 



THE COMING HARVEST. 16 

the first what God is, and how groat things God has done. 
Creation is not a husk, dreary, dry, worthless, to be left 
to rot and disappear from the things that God made; but 
a subject of promise, to be reglorified, remoulded, and 
share in the restitution and restoration of all things. 

This teaching by parables is of all modes of teaching 
the most instructive to the masses of mankind, and the 
most easily remembered. It gives freshness to truths that 
have ceased to strike, and sharpness to sentiments that 
have lost their edge ; it gives force and penetration to ideas 
that have been worn down and wasted of their noblest 
meaning, and makes those ideas remembered, because im- 
pressed on the memory with a depth and a tenacity not 
easily destroyed ; so much so, that often the material images 
are retained in the memory, dim and unsuggestive for a 
season, till a day come in which they are overflowed with 
light, and speak in persuasive eloquence, and exercise a 
sanctifying and directive power, rich in the most precious 
issues. They may be not fully appreciated or turned to 
any practical use at present, remaining like foreign money 
in the pocket, having no currency in this land, but receiv- 
ing all its value the instant that the possessor passes into 
the land, the image of whose king it bears. 

The parables of Jesus are almost all contained in the 
first three Gospels ; the allegories are nearly all recorded 
in St. John's Gospel. In each Gospel, however, the para- 
bles present themselves with different aspects. In St. 
Matthew's Gospel, Avho wrote for the Jews, the kingly and 
the theocratic aspect, or the things of the kingdom, are 
the most prominent. In St. Luke's Gospel, there is less 
of the Jewish, and more of the human. The one seems 
more catholic than the other in this respect. The prodigal 
son is a parable for all humanity; the rich man and Laza- 
rus is full of instruction for every age. 



16 FORESHADOWS. 

There are two great errors in interpreting the parables : 
one consists in screwing meaning out of every part, as if 
there were nothing subsidiary at all ; and the other in re- 
garding much of the parable as merely subsidiary, and to 
be regarded as mere drapery. The first is very objection- 
able, for the parable and its truth are not, as has been well 
said, two perfect planes that touch at all points, but rather, 
a plane and a sphere touching at certain great points. 
Each parable embosoms a grand design, which is prominent 
and chief and highest, and this ought to be kept constantly 
in view in interpreting all the subsidiary touches in the 
parable. The second plan sees too little meaning in the 
parable ; it regards much as merely intended to make up a 
tale, other parts to be mere connecting links, and some 
parts as rather marring than bringing out the end and 
object of the parable. This last mode destroys much of 
the riches of Scripture. Every part of the parable, like 
every text in the Bible, has its meaning and its importance. 
A perfect portrait has no parts that do not contribute to 
the general effect, and through every part life so glows 
and shines, so much so, that the absence of the minutest 
part would be a deficiency. 

In Matthew xiii. 3-8, and in the explanation of it, we 
have a most interesting and instructive parable, which we 
proceed to analyze and unfold. 

Jesus saw, when he uttered it, in all probability, a Jew- 
ish sower casting seed upon the earth. Thousands had 
seen the same thing before, but to their eyes it was a dead 
fact, destitute of any meaning beyond the commonplace 
one of preparing food for mankind. Jesus seizes this com- 
mon occurrence. He does not constitute it what it never 
was, but only unfolds what it ever has had, a precious and 
inner meaning, and proves it, as all tongues and tribes and 



THE COMING HARVEST. 17 

kindreds of the earth have felt, to be the material type and 
image of a sublime and glorious lesson. 

The teacher is a sower: ideas are living germs in husks 
or shells of human speech, and according to their own na- 
ture and the nature of the soil on which they fall, are the 
fruits which they produce. Jesus is the great Sower of the 
seed. He came forth from God, and from the storehouse 
of infinite beneficence and wisdom and life, to sow this 
earth w^ith the living seeds of truth and holiness and joy, — 
seeds of law that shall produce conviction, and seeds of 
gospel that shall produce responsive gratitude and joy and 
love. The seeds were the same in all the four cases. 
Allusions to these are made in 1 Peter i. 23, ^^ Being born 
again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the 
word of God, w^hich liveth and abideth for ever;" — andin 
James i. 21, ^^ Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and super- 
fluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the in- 
grafted w^ord, which is able to save your souls." He sows 
over all fields, for he accepted the commission that he gave, 
«Go, and preach the gospel to every creature." Satan 
watches all hearts, especially those that do not receive the 
truth ; and the fowls of heaven, like the evil appetites and 
lusts of humanity, wait to pounce upon it the instant that 
it falls, and to carry it away. The word ^^sown" in the 
explanation of the parable, — '^that which was sowm," not 
^'received," — implies the perfect identity and incorporation 
of the seed with those that receive it. The plant is the 
seed and the earth combined; so the Christian is the truth 
and humanity incorporated, the Christian is the truth and 
human nature united and combined by the Holy Spirit of 
God. 

Seeds fell, we are told, in the first instance, by the way 
side, and the fowls of heaven came and devoured them. 
Luke saySj the seeds w^ere trodden down : at all events they 



18 ^ FORESHADOWS. 

were cast upon the hard and impenetrable surface of a soil 
beaten hard by the feet of ceaseless traffic, and become like 
the very stone as to any inherent productive power ; so that 
the seed must either be crushed by the next footstep, or 
picked up by the incidental bird that settles on it, or washed 
away by the rains, the rivers, and the showers, that sweep 
over it. All hearers, it is plain, do not profit by what they 
hear, and this is one of the explanations why our Lord 
explains this, <:'When any one heareth the word of the 
kingdom, and understandeth it not," that is, does not re- 
ceive it in his heart, ^^then cometh the wicked one, and 
catcheth away that which was sown.'' The hearer's under- 
standing is not benefited. He receives in his soul from the 
lips of the minister no quickening and penetrating impres- 
sion; he feels no interest or delight in what he hears; the 
seeds do not catch hold of his heart, nor does his heart 
open its pores to the entrance of the seed. He does not 
feel any greater interest in the truths, to which it is his 
privilege and responsibility to listen, than if those truths 
related to persons inhabitants of another world, in whose 
concerns, progress, and destiny he had no care. Why is 
this ? He has made his heart a thoroughfare for all evil 
interests, for the world's profits, and losses, and passions, 
and prejudices, to walk up and down continually. Selfish- 
ness has hardened his heart, and evil passions have reduced 
it to adamant, and when the seeds of truth are scattered 
by the sowers appointed to sow them, they alight upon it, 
rebound, or are borne away as soon as they fall : for Satan, 
ever watching, and ever afraid lest a victim should be lost, 
either snatches up the seed himself, or lets loose upon the 
soul, on which it has been scattered, a herd of evil desires 
and passions, which eat up the seed, and leave the heart 
bare or beat it harder than it was before. The heart be- 
comes case-hardened by hearing a gospel which it does not 



. THE COMING HARVEST. 1§ 

carry into life ; the very repetition increases its insensibi- 
lity. The god of this world blinds the eye, prejudices 
darken the mind, passions gain power, and the latter con- 
dition of such an one is worse than the first. 

In the next place, some seed fell on stony places. It 
means properly rocky places, not a soil mixed with stones, 
for seeds would germinate in the crevices between, but a 
thin soil spread upon the rock without mould enough to re- 
tain the moisture, and to allow the seeds to strike root down- 
ward,- take hold, and grow upward permanently till the 
harvest. The seeds at first germinated, gave promise of 
progress ; they were fed by the rains, and appeared strong 
and healthy; but having no deep root, no inward source 
of vegetable vitality, they perished in the drought as soon 
as the sun rose and shone in his meridian strength. This 
indicates a different state of heart from that which was de- 
scribed in the former case, which we have just disposed of. 
The hearer in this instance is charmed with the first accents 
of the gospel; its truths are to him full of music, its lessons 
overflow with beauty ; he seizes its promises, hears its invi- 
tation, accepts its duties ; he takes, however, what is bright, 
not what is otherwise. He builds, but counts not the cost; 
he will not hear the lesson, that through much tribulation 
we must enter into the kingdom of heaven; he rejects the 
obligation to carry the cross, and to deny ourselves. He 
is willing to listen to a preacher who finds his type in 
Ezekiel xxxiii. 30-32: "Also, thou son of man, the chil- 
dren of thy people still are talking against thee by the walls 
and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, 
every one to his brother, saying. Come, I pray you, and 
hear what is the word that cometh forth from the Lord. 
And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they 
sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but 
they will not do them : for with their mouth they show much 



20 FORESHADOWS. 



love, but their heart goeth after their covetonsness. And, 
lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that 
hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument; 
for they hear thy words, but they do them not." He is 
the Herod of the Gospel, who heard John gladly as long 
as John did not touch the darling passion that he cherished 
in his heart. Had the truth been well rooted it would have 
endured, but here it withers. The same sun, thus, that 
gives nutriment and progress to the seeds on one soil, 
withers and blasts the young plants that grow upon the 
other. Let us ask, have we inward root? The roots of a 
tree are not seen, except in the branches, the leaves, and 
the blossoms ; so a Christian life is hid with Christ in God, 
as is the root of the tree in the living soil, but the evidence 
of its life is the whole course, career, and conduct. Peter 
had these deep roots and fibres of the inner life, struck into 
his heart, and therefore he bowed his branches to the hur- 
ricane, lost some of his verdure, his beauty, and his size, 
but was not rooted up and cast away. Demas had a faith 
destitute of vitality and of root, and therefore, when the 
sun of tribulation beat upon him, his Christianity withered, 
and he departed, having loved this present world. A man 
may look fair and green up to a certain point; after that 
affliction, tribulation, and persecution come, he is seen to 
endure only for a season. He had the appearance of Chris- 
tianity, he was destitute of its life. Let us see, then, that 
we are rooted and grounded in the truth, and then, when 
days of persecution and of trial come, we and our principles 
shall live and illustrate each other. 

We read, next, that some of the seeds fell among thorns. 
In other words, they fell in ground out of which the weeds 
and thistles were not utterly extirpated. There was 
plenty of soil, abundance of softening showers and genial 
sunbeams, but the weeds grew up faster than the corn, till 



THE COMING HARVEST. 21 

by their rank luxuriance and overshadowing branches they 
choked the good seed. Weeds are indigenous to every 
soil ; corn is an exotic. This is not a soil hard and im- 
penetrable, the corn grows, and does not wither at once, 
or even for a season ; it retains its greemiess, but it is 
stunted in its progress, and deprived of its vital juices, by 
the presence of weeds that absorb them. These weeds are 
the cares of the world, and the pleasures of life — the two 
great aspects that this world presents, under the influence 
and the charm of which every Christian more or less is. 
Poverty, and hunger, and want absorb the life of the 
soul, and the anxieties they originate choke the tender 
plants of the truth. Vfhat shall we eat? and what shall 
we drink ? and wherewithal shall we be clothed ? are the 
questions that dilate into too great space in the poor man's 
heart, and destroy by their presence the living truths of 
Christianity. Rank, honour, worldly splendour, and flat- 
tery, the attractions of life, the glories of the outward 
world, feed upon the life-blood of the rich man. "I am 
rich and increased in goods, I have need of nothing." 
<'They that be rich," says the apostle, ^'fall into tempta- 
tion and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, 
which drown many souls in destruction and perdition." 
We are not to be careful for many things ; w^e are to 
labour, working with our hands, yet to labour less for the 
meat that pcrisheth, and more for that which endureth 
unto everlasting life. 

We have then a picture of the honest and good soil. 
The good heart, according to Scripture, is good by recep- 
tion of the truth. It does not receive the truth, because 
it is good. There is no regeneration of heart, except by 
the power of the Spirit of God, and generally through the 
instrumentality of the truth. These, we are told, have 
the word. This is their first and distinguishing feature. 



22 FORESHADOWS. 

A "windy day^ a wet day, a want of a carriage, or, what is 
worse, having a carriage, does not prevent their appear- 
ance in the accustomed pew, or lessen or obstruct their 
desire to hear the word, and to open their hearts to the 
seed, the incorruptible seed of life. When they come to 
the sanctuary, they bring their minds as well as their 
bodies. Too many are physically present in the house of 
prayer, but mentally absent. When the church looks 
most crowded, it may be really most empty. A crowded 
church may be a crowded sheepfold ; it may not be a com- 
pany of anxious, inquiring, and interested minds. It is 
not where two or three bodies, but where two or three 
souls are met together in the name of Christ, that he is 
present in the midst of them. It is of no use to shut 
shops on Sunday, if we shut up our minds and hearts with 
them. It is of no use withdrawing the eye from the 
ledger, if it still be riveted on the transcript of it in your 
memory. ^^My son, give me thine heart," is the appro- 
priate inscription for every house of God. I think the 
word used by our Lord, "hearing," is emphatic. Reading 
is enjoined in Scripture, but hearing still more so. The 
Bible is the storehouse of the living seed, but the spoken 
sermon, the oral utterance, is the wind that wafts the 
seeds, and scatters them abroad over the soil of many 
hearts. There is an emphasis in spoken truth, which is 
absent from read truth. The mind is more kindled by the 
sparks that enter through the listening ear, than those 
that penetrate by the arrested eye. Above all, hearing is 
expressly declared to be the ordinance of God. 

^'They understand," says our Lord. Light is the first 
created thing; salvation is a reasonable belief; the en- 
lightened mind generally precedes the holy heart. The 
eyes of the understanding are enlightened, and we are 
turned from darkness unto light before we are first moved 



THE co:ming harvest. 23 

by the mighty motives of the gospel of Christ. There are 
some things we cannot understand or comprehend, hut 
other things — the essential, saving, and distinguishing 
things of Christianity — are so plainly revealed in the 
Bible, and so frequently elucidated from the pulpit, that 
the wayfaring man can scarcely err therein. We cannot, 
however, understand with the mind,. or receive a saving 
impression on the heart, till both are prepared and made 
susceptible by the Holy Spirit of God : ^'The natural man 
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can 
he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." It 
is not grasp of intellect, but divine teaching that is re- 
quired for the saving reception of the gospel. The simplest 
truths are hid from the wise and prudent of this world, 
while the sublimest and greatest are disclosed to babes. 
God often carries on this process of regenerating the heart 
by afflictions and losses, and trials and bereavements, but 
oftener still through the truth that is addressed to it; and 
in every case where there is a saving truth entertained, 
these promises have been fulfilled: «<A11 thy people shall 
be taught of thee," and ''He," the Spirit, ''shall teach 
you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, 
whatsoever I have spoken to you : he shall take of the 
things that are mine, and show them unto you." 

It is said, that the good soil receives the seed, or lite- 
rally translated, it holds it fast. Christ came to his own, 
and his own received him not ; but these not only h'jar 
and understand, but cordially welcome and give hearty 
hospitality to the truth. They hail its approach, as the 
soil hails the dews. They hold fast the seeds in their 
bosoms, and suffer not Satan to catch them away. They 
can each say, " Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I 
offend not thee." But they not only hold it fast, but 
they keep it, that is, they value it after they have tried 



24 FORESHADOWS. 

it. We cast away what on trial is found useless, we keep 
what is precious ; such hearers keep the living seed as men 
do precious jewels ; they appreciate the value of what 
they receive, and feel their own responsibility in receiving 
it. There is an ear labour just as there is a lip labour, the 
one in hearing and the other in praying, and neither pro- 
ductive of any good, or beneficent result. They heard not 
in vain. But their keeping it may imply their defending 
it. They do not let error cast its darkening shadow over 
the precious truth that they have received. They are 
willing to part w^ith the largest husk, but they will not 
give up the least seed. They contend earnestly for the 
faith, and hold fast the good thing whigh is committed to 
them. They take care of the seed of truth, and wait 
patiently for the future, when there shall appear upon it 
the blossom, and for the time when there shall be gathered 
from it the fruit of righteousness. They cherish it in 
their inmost hearts ; they are not satisfied with mere in- 
tellectual apprehension of the word ; they meditate upon 
it. It is to them their living food. Every promise, every 
precept, and every encouragement they carefully cherish, 
as that which is their life, and will not let it go. 

And finally, it is said, they bring forth fruit. This is 
the truest test. When Paul preached at Athens, some 
mocked, and others procrastinated, and others, like Diony- 
sius the Areopagite, hid it in their hearts, and brought 
forth fruit. When Jesus preached, some were heard to 
wonder, like Herod ; some were able to talk of him, like 
Judas ; others to cavil, like the scribes ; and others to 
admire — ''Never man spake like this man;" but not a 
few to learn and live thereby. The fruit is always the 
same substantially as the seed. The seed is holy, the 
fruit must be holy also. If it be the seed of instruction, 
the understanding will be enlightened; if the seed of 



THE COMING HARVEST. 25 

comfort, the heart will be cheered ; if the seed of warn- 
ing, they w^ill take heed lest they walk in the ways that 
are corrupt ; if the seed of example, they will become 
followers of Christ, and of them that through faith have 
inherited the promises. If there be no fruit, there can 
be no Christianity; fruit is the test of the tree, character 
the symbol of principle. And fruit in season above all — 
that is, our life showing itself as Christian and victorious 
in that sphere or place in which God in his providence 
has placed us — is precious. Such fruitfulness disarms all 
opposition, is the most eloquent credential of our creed, 
strikes a world that will read our lives, while it is deter- 
mined not to read our Bibles ; and that prophecy is ful- 
filled — ^' Then shall the heathen know that I am the Lord, 
when I shall be sanctified by you before their eyes." All 
the hearers of the word, it is too plain to every spectator 
of the sower, are not profited thereby. It is a well-known 
fact, that three-fifths of the seed sown in every country 
does not grow into the harvest ; and according to this 
parable, three-fourths of the audience received seed, but 
altogether in vain. — Let us examine and try ourselves, 
and see in what category we are, what is the soil of our 
heart, and what reception we are giving to the seed that 
is sown from Sabbath to Sabbath. 

In the next place, Christ sows the seed upon all soils ; 
he makes his sun to rise on the good and on the evil ; he 
gives to all opportunity of knowing him ; if any perish, 
it is not because the sower withheld the seed, or because 
the seed was not good, but because their own hearts were 
not ready and open to receive it. Let us never forget, in 
the last place, that two things are required for a harvest 
— a terrestrial labour, and a celestial blessing ; — under 
the present economy the one is unavailing without the 
other. In vain we cultivate the soil and sow the seed, if 

II. SER. o 



26 FORESHADOWS. 

no sunbeams and showers descend upon it. In vain sun- 
beams and showers descend, if we do not cultivate the 
soil and sow the seed. Let us combine these two ; let us 
look up and pray for a celestial blessing, let us abound 
more and more in terrestrial labours, let us ever feel that 
the Saviour watches from the skies alike our labours, his 
blessings, and the result. Where much is given, there 
much shall be required ; our responsibility is increased by 
opportunity: ^^Work while it^is called to-day, for the 
night cometh, when no man can work." 

We can anticipate a day in which there will be no 
barren soil — no choking weeds ; when the seeds sown in 
this spring of ours, shall grow up and wave in ama- 
ranthine beauty in everlasting summer. Its advent is 
certain. Its first rays sprinkle the highest spires, and 
gild softly the loftiest hills. Come, Lord Jesus, come 
quickly. "^ 



27 



LECTURE 11. 

THE GREAT FESTIVAL. 

Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many : 
and sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; 
for all things are now ready. And they all with one consent began to make 
excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I 
must needs go and see it : I pray thee have me excused. And another said, 
I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have 
me excused. And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I can- 
not come. So that servant came, and showed his lord these things. Then 
the master of the house being angry said to his servant. Go out quickly into 
the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maim- 
ed, and the halt, and the blind. And the servant said. Lord, it is done as 
thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. And the lord said unto the 
servant. Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, 
that my house may be filled. For I say unto you. That none of those men 
which were bidden shall taste of my supper. — Luke xiv. 16-24. 

The remark from which the parable I have read pro- 
bably originated, is contained in the 15th verse, where it 
is stated, <« Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the king- 
dom of God.'' Every Jew believed that at the close of 
this present dispensation, and at the commencement of 
that dispensation which is yet to dawn, a great festival 
would be provided, at which should be assembled together 
Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, the fathers and the 
children of that ancient and once illustrious race ; and 
therefore one of them that sat at meat and anticipated 
that day, said, ^'Blessed is he,'' that is, happy is the man, 
''that shall then eat bread in the kingdom of God." Our 
Lord then seized the remark incidentally made by a Jew 
who was present, and on that remark constructed one of 



28 FORESHADOWS. 

his beautiful parables, — so beautiful in itself, and so replete 
with instructive and with spiritual meaning, that we have 
only to break the shell, and so exhibit the precious kernel 
which that shell contains. 

It is here stated, that '^a certain man," that is, the Sa- 
viour himself, ^'made a great supper," the chief meal in 
ancient times, or a festival, to which all those mentioned 
in the sequel were invited. A feast is frequently employed 
in Scripture, to be a symbol of what is provided for the 
soul in the great gift of the Saviour, Christ Jesus. In the 
9th chapter of the Proverbs, in the prophecies of Isaiah, 
in various other passages that will occur to you, in the 
Book of Revelation also — "the great festival" — '^the 
bread that satisfies" — " the feast, the provision that Wis- 
dom has made, who has slain her beasts," as it is stated, 
<^ and poured out her wine" — are all intended to convey 
vividly, and by expressive and easily remembered imagery, 
the rich and ample provision that is made for all the wants 
of all that will in the great gift of a Saviour in the gospel. 
And this idea of a festival provided, teaches us that the 
soul needs nutriment just as much as the body. We often 
think that the body alone needs bread, and when we have 
earned it, or obtained it, and eaten it, we are satisfied. 
But we forget that we have satisfied only the wants of the 
lower nature, and that the great wants of the higher nature 
may either be unappreciated by us, because insensible to 
their nature and greatness, or may remain unfilled and 
unsatisfied by that living bread, which is as needful for 
the wants of the soul as the bread that perisheth is for the 
wants of the body. Let us never forget, then, that man 
has two appetites, or two great necessities ; that man not 
only needs bread for the body, that this outward medium 
of communication with an outward world may be adequate 
to its uses ; but that he needs also that nutriment for his 



THE GREAT FESTIVAL. 29 

immortal soul, the absence of which will not be its annihi- 
lation, but its pining, and conscious agony and sorrow, 
throughout the ages that are to come. What is this pro- 
vision that is made in the gospel for the soul ? The body 
needs bread and water; the soul needs food, and to our 
joy that food is provided for us. It is described in every 
page of the w^ord of God. It is gathered every Sundaj^. 

The first thing in this great festival, provided, and com- 
plete, and accessible to every one of us, is the forgiveness 
of sin. The great want of humanity is pardon first ; and 
until we ourselves know that our sins — the ocean-load that 
unforgiven must sink us to the depths of ruin — are blotted 
out, we never can enjoy a conscious peace with God, or 
feel at ease in the prospect of a judgment throne, and an 
opening age to come. But, blessed be God, that great 
want has a provision ready to meet it, and that is to be 
had for asking. It was finished on Calvary, it was pro- 
claimed at Pentecost, it is described in the Bible, it is 
enunciated in every true sermon, it is accessible to every 
hungry soul : so that no man need live an unforgiven man, 
against his will. There is provided complete forgiveness 
for all that will ; and this is the very first and distinctive 
provision in this great feast to which we are invited. 

The very next provision in it, free and complete, is re- 
generation of heart. We need, not only that our sins 
should be forgiven, that w^e may thus be admitted to 
heaven, but likewise that our nature should be transformed, 
that thus heaven may be heaven to us. To an unregene- 
rate man what God promises in the future would be no 
happiness at all: he would have no taste, no appetite for 
it, no sympathy with it. Heaven's light would not suit 
his eyes ; heaven's joys would not nestle in his heart. We 
need as much to be made fit for heaven by the Holy Spi- 
rit's work within us, as to be entitled to heaven by Christ's 



30 FORESHADOWS. 

work for us — Christ alone in his finished work is all our 
title — the Spirit within us in his progressive work^ our 
fitness. And, blessed be God, these two great prepara- 
tives for heaven, these two grand provisions for lost and 
condemned humanity, are to be found, and are accessible 
in the gospel feast, the ^^ great supper,'' that this Man, 
our elder Brother, has made for us. 

Having noticed this festival, let us examine, in the next 
place, the invitation. It is said, he ^'bade many," that 
is, if I mistake not, the many, the multitudes, the mass of 
mankind — he ^'bade many." And that bidding is not 
spent by the lapse of eighteen centuries : it is not hushed 
in travelling from Jerusalem to London. Christ still bids 
many, just as truly, as really, as if he were now in the 
midst of us, and were heard saying, ''AH that are weary 
and heavy laden, come unto me." Whoever will, let him 
take of the water '' of life freely." The difiicult thing with 
us is, that we constantly think of the Saviour as an histo- 
rical person of the past, and forget that he is a living, 
present Saviour now, and near us. We are very apt to 
think that what is in this Book did once take place and 
may be recollected ; but we are very prone to forget that 
every thing that is in it has now a living interest and 
relation to us. It is the living gospel, spoken now, 
abounding now, offered now, by the living Saviour, who 
wait^ now to welcome us, and to bless us with all we need, 
or can desire, in this life, or for that which is to come. At 
this moment, therefore, truly, clearly, urgently, Christ bids 
many. He bids them in every page of the Bible ; in the 
preaching of the gospel ; in the dispensations of his pro- 
vidence; and in those responses which our consciences 
give to what he addresses to us. There is not a reader 
of this work, however thoughtless he or she may be, who 
does not feel in his or her heart that the gospel is true, 



THE GREAT FESTIVAL. 31 

and that it is infinite peril to reject it, and duty and pri- 
vilege to believe it. I know that when I speak or write 
Avhat is contained in the Holy Scripture, that I have advo- 
cates, and sympathizers, and support, and even seconding 
in every heart that is within reach, in every conscience 
that is touched. Men know in their best, and truest, and 
honest moments, that what they are told in this Book is 
true ; they feel in their sequestered and most unprejudiced 
hours, that to believe is duty, to refuse is the height of 
ingratitude, irreligion, and ruin. Many, then, are still 
bidden — all are bidden ; for there is no exclusion. 

But it is the great characteristic, as we are told, of this 
feast, that ^'all things are ready." This is its most pre- 
cious feature, and I want the reader well to weigh it, 
because these words finish the very possibility of the truth 
of many of those theories, or rather corruptions, of the 
gospel that have crept into the Christian church. If then 
the feast be ready, the guests have not to bring food with 
them, but to seat themselves at the table, and to eat what 
is provided for them. The gospel of salvation is ready, 
and we come, not to make a salvation, or to bring a salva- 
tion, but simply to receive a salvation already perfect and 
complete. In other words, it is our true position, that 
we are not come to make an atonement, but to believe in 
an atonement already made. We are not here to elabo- 
rate a salvation, but to accept a salvation completely 
ready. Men who are invited to believe the gospel, are 
not invited to start any process of making their peace 
with God, as the world calls it, but to accept the complete 
pledge of perfect peace, ''glory to God in the highest, 
and on earth peace, good-will toward men.'' Now this is 
a most important truth. We have no robes to put on, no 
graces to borrow, no penances to endure, no payment to 
make, no sacrifices to offer; but just as we are to approach 



3^ FORESHADOWS. 

to Jesus just as he is, in short, to come to him as Adam 
left us, in order that we may be made what the second 
Adam alone can make us. But the too frequent feeling 
in the minds of many is, that they need first to do some- 
thing, to wait a little till they are a little better, to improve 
a branch here, and to alter something there, or to speak 
to the priest, or consult some one else, or to offer sacri- 
fices, in order that they may be worthy to come to Christ. 
The call of the gospel, on the contrary, is addressed to us 
lying where Adam's sin left us, and its summons is, Arise 
and come through Christ at once to your Father, and be 
children of God, heirs of the kingdom of glory. The 
idea very frequently in our minds, and the Romish Church 
is constructed upon it, is, that Grod is still but partially 
reconciled, that still he would rather reject than welcome 
us, that even now it is with a reluctance and a grudge that 
he ever pardons or saves us. Such is the popular mind, 
it is also the Popish mind — it is not the mind of the 
Spirit of God. God's love to us was not created by 
Christ, but only manifested in Christ. Jesus died because 
God loved us ; it is not that God loved us because Jesus 
died. He so loved us that he made this channel for the 
egress of that love, and he sent this Saviour to be the ex- 
ponent of that love. There is nothing that God can do 
in this respect that has not been done — all is ready. He 
only wants us to come with empty hearts, that they may 
be filled — humbled, that they may be exalted — hungry, 
that they may be fed ; pleading as their only plea, that 
they have nothing, and asking him to give them as his 
greatest gift the pardon of sin, regeneration of heart, and 
all that law can demand or love can give. Now, this is 
just the gospel ; it is, if I may so speak, the alphabet of 
the gospel. God the Father is ready ; he needs nothing 
to be done in order to love us. God the Son is ready: 



THE GREAT FESTIVAL. 33 

«< Come unto me all that are weary and heavy laden, and 
I will give you rest." God the Spirit is ready. In short, 
I know nothing that is unready, except man's reluctant 
and rebellious heart ; the unreadiness is not in God, it is 
in man. If we do not come now, we shall not be more 
disposed to come to-morrow; if we are not ready to-day, 
we are not likely to be more ready to-morrow. If we 
should wait ten thousand years, our sins wilf not be less, 
God's mercies will not be greater ; it will be all the oppo- 
site way, your sins will be greater, and God may justly 
say, '' I called, and ye refused, and therefore I will shut 
mine ear and hear you no more;" he may justly forget 
to be gracious, having stretched out his hands to a rebel- 
lious people all the day long. But, some one says, let 
me clearly understand you. Am I — a sinner — ^just as I 
am, fit to go into the presence of God? If you were 
asked to go into the presence of our sovereign, of course 
you are not fit as you are : you would make ready and 
put on appropriate costume in order to enjoy the honour. 
But you are called to go into the presence of God, not 
only as sinners, but just because you are sinners. Jesus 
has come into the world to seek and to save sinners. 
You are the class he has come to ; you are just in the very 
category he deals with ; it is because you are sinners that 
he seeks to save you ; and the reason, I say, of your 
belief is not any thing in you, but something altogether 
out of you, and in Christ. Your warrant to go to God, 
and to rest in his love, as in a Father's love, is not some- 
thing in you, which you are to wait for ; but something in 
Christ, ready, perfect, complete, and by virtue of which 
there is no obstruction between the greatest sinner and 
instant peace with God in Christ, by whom there is an 
access for the greatest sinner on this side of heaven. It 
is thus then that just as you are you may go to God. But, 



84 FOEESHADOWS. 

some one may say, is there not such a truth as God's 
sovereignty ? Is there not such a doctrine as election ? 
and if I am not elect, I cannot go ; but if I am elect, no 
doubt I shall one day go. I had better sit still at present, 
I had better be quiescent. Did you ever read of any 
saint in the Bible pleading this ? You know in your 
hearts that your plea is an utterly dishonest one. You 
know that in things of this life no such plea would ever 
occur to you. Have we not read that when Christ said 
to Matthew, ^'Follow me," he did not say, ''Let me see 
first if I be elect, or not ?" but he immediately arose and 
followed him. In similar circumstances when Peter was 
called he did not say, ''Am I elect, or not?" If he had 
said so, Jesus would have said, "What is that to thee? 
follow thou me." Our duty is, not to try to look into 
God's hidden book to see if our names be there, but to 
listen to God's audible voice and read God's recorded will, 
and see w^hat our character is there. It is true that God 
has chosen us before the foundation of the world that we 
should be holy ; and if there were no election, I believe 
there would be no salvation. If God did not draw us, 
we should never follow him ; if he did not call first, we 
should never answer him ; if he did not choose us, we 
should never choose him ; if he did not love us, we should 
never love him ; but if you take a precious doctrine, and 
make it an obstruction to your obedience to the Saviour, 
you are just as guilty as those who put the church betw^een 
the sinner and Christ, or the priest between the sinner 
and Christ. It is just as truly Popery to put election or 
reprobation between the greatest sinner and instant for- 
giveness, as ta put the priest, the church, or sacrament. 
Popery is not a compendium of specific names, but it is 
the habit of going to any thing for salvation except Christ, 
or planting any thing as an obstruction to your approach 



THE GREAT FESTIVAL. 35 

to Christ for salvation ; this is the very essence of Romish 
error, and of Romish superstition. And therefore you 
have nothing to do ^vith any thing, but to hear Avhat 
Christ says, and obey. "1 am the door;" and as the 
door, he is the way for you to enter in. ^' I am the way : 
no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." It is only 
a corrupt and a metaphysical mind that would say, '' I 
must wait until I become the subject of a miraculous im- 
pulse, or of a supernatural impression ; and then I shall 
obey and come." Such a one sees a door ; he is told that 
door leads to heaven : he looks at the door, and examines 
it very carefully, and he says, "It is probable that there 
is no thoroughfare ; if I attempt to enter, I may meet 
with what I do not like. I am not sure that I shall be 
welcome if I knock." That is the reasoning of the mere 
carnal metaphysician. But lie who receives the kingdom 
of God like a little child is troubled with no such meta- 
physical perplexities ; he knocks, and the door opens, and 
he enters, and is happy. Unless we shall receive the 
kingdom of heaven as little children, we shall never receive 
it with happiness at all. Thus then "all things are 
ready ;" many were bidden, and none were pronounced by 
the Master worthy to be excluded from instant admission. 
But, we read, some made excuses. One said, "I have 
bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it." 
Another said, "I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go 
to prove them." And another said, "I have married a 
wife," and assumed in a most cavalier manner that there- 
fore he could not come. Tfow, of course, these excuses, 
if looked at by honest men, must be seen to be wholly 
hypocrisy, every one of them. Why, one man says, "I 
have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and 
see it." Is it likely that a sagacious, worldly man, such 
as this evidently was, would have purchased a piece of 



36 FORESHADOWS. 

land without first seeing it? Is it likely that he bought 
it first, and then went to examine it afterward ? The very 
worldliness of his character indicates there must have been 
worldly sagacity in that character ; and therefore he could 
not have purchased the land, and then afterward have 
gone to see what it was worth. And the other said, ^^I 
have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them." 
Is it possible that he bought five yoke of oxen w^ithout 
knowing whether they were healthy or the reverse, whether 
they were old or young, whether they were fit for work or 
unfit ? It was a lie, and he knew it was so ; it was a mere 
pretext for evading a duty, that did not suit his taste and 
his moral temperament. And when the last one said, ^^I 
have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come," I ask, 
how could this be an excuse ? If his wife were a Chris- 
tian, she would have come with him ; and if she were not 
a Christian, he had no business to have married her at all ; 
and if he had entered into a new relationship, instead of 
that being a reason for staying away from that Source 
in which all relationships in life are sanctified, it was the 
greatest reason for his coming, and accepting that which 
would make his home happy, and that relationship sweet. 
The first excuse is the landlord's excuse ; the second ex- 
cuse is the tradesman's ; and the third excuse is the do- 
mestic man's excuse. One said, ^' I am too busy in looking 
after my rents ; I am too busy in these times of severe 
pressure, to be able to spare any time for religion." The 
second is the excuse of the shop, or of the counting-house : 
^'Really, I make so little, my customers are so few, my 
profits are so small, that I must work from morning to 
night, either at my books or behind my counter, in order 
to make all ends meet, and to have something to spare at 
Christmas; and therefore I have no time for religion." 
The third is the domestic man's excuse, the excuse of the 



THE GREAT FESTIVAL. 37 

father, the mother, the sister, the brother, the son, or the 
daughter: ''I have a home, and its cares and anxieties are 
so many, that I have no time for religion." And all three 
most sadly forget, that the admission of religion into all 
their concerns, instead of adding to the load, would posi- 
tively lighten it ; instead of making them less active, would 
have made them more so; for no man walks his fields or 
treads his floor with so elastic a footstep, as he who sees 
God's goodness and God's presence over them all ; and no 
man transacts the world's business with so bounding a 
heart, as he who knows that God is his Father, and that 
his strength is made perfect in weakness ; and no home is 
lighted up with so beautiful a halo, with so magnificent a 
glory, as that home which begins with prayer, and ends 
with praise, and where Christ is all and in all. Besides, 
these excuses, if they had been bona fide^ good excuses, 
are not valid excuses for rejecting, what it is our instant 
duty to accept, and eternal ruin to refuse, God's offer of 
instant pardon. If excuses are at all valid for rejecting 
the gospel, then one man will be able to say at the judg- 
ment-seat, '^I am not a Christian, because I could not 
make up my mind to believe the Bible." And another 
will be able to say, '^I am not a Christian, because I was 
too busy." And another, ''I am not a Christian, because 
I did not care to think of the subject." And another, 
i' Because I had something else to attend to." These ex- 
cuses cannot be accepted: they are excuses urged by man 
for disobeying God. If there be a valid excuse, there is 
no obligation. Duty ceases to be duty the moment there 
is a valid excuse for not doing it. And besides, what is it 
that men are excusing themselves from? From being 
happy. God says to humanity, ««Be happy;" and hu- 
manity says, ^^I have too much to attend to in the world, 
and I will not be happy." The very first mission of the 

II. SER. 4 



38 FORESHADOWS. 

gospel is to preach happiness ; it is its secondary effect to 
produce holiness. Most persons think of Christianity as 
if its first and primary design were to make men holy ; its 
first and primary design is to make men happy, and then 
gratitude to God for so grand, so sovereign a boon, will 
instantly create responsive love to God, and love to God 
involves obedience to the whole of his moral law. It is 
thus, then, that man excusing himself, is positively ex- 
cusing himself from being happy. 

We read, that the servant came and related to his master 
all that had taken place ; all the facts were presented to 
him ; and we read that the result was, that the master was 
''angry." No wonder that he should be angry that so 
munificent a provision should meet with so scornful an ac- 
ceptance ; angry that what he had provided in his love, 
men should think unworthy of acceptance at all. As 
parallel to this we read of ''the wrath of the Lamb," the 
most awful expression in the whole New Testament. It is 
always found in the links and relationships of affection, 
that the greatest love, should it undergo a change, becomes 
the intensest hatred^ — the reaction is the greater. And 
we shall find that the wrath of the Lamb is the more 
terrific, because the love of the Lamb was so great. The 
apostle Paul was so struck with astonishment at the guilt 
and heinousness of any rejecting the gospel, that he said, 
"If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be 
anathema;" as if the apostle said, "I could speak a word 
for one condemned for his personal sins, but I could 
scarcely speak for him who does not love one who loved 
us so much as the Lord Jesus Christ." 

But after it is said that he was angry, it is added, that 
"the master of the house said to his servant. Go out 
quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in 
hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the 



THE GREAT FESTIVAL. 39 

blind. '* ^^Go out quickly" — the day of grace is merging 
fast into the day of glory; the seed-time is passing away; 
the currents of time are merging into the ocean of eternity. 
Soon these offers must cease, this opportunity shall have 
passed away, and those that thus rejected him shall be 
constrained to give utterance to the agonizing cry, '' The 
harvest is passed, the summer is ended, and we are not 
saved.'* 

^'Go out quickly," says the Saviour, <^into the streets 
and lanes of the city," that is, those parts of a great city 
that are likely last to be visited with the light, and life, 
and enjoyment of the gospel. Who that knows this great 
metropolis, does not know of lanes, and alleys, and streets 
where the policeman is the only visitor, and where the jail 
is the only discipline, and where the police-office is the 
only school that the young ever see — lanes, alleys, and 
streets into which the sun scarcely shines from the firma- 
ment, much less the light of the Sun of righteousness ? 
And those very children that we by our niggardliness 
suffer to grow up unconscious of the very distinctions of 
vice and virtue, w^e then punish by sending to a penal 
colony, or to the treadmill, when the punishment should 
properly alight upon those congregations that never made 
an effort to enlighten, or to visit, or to reach them. " Go 
out quickly," said our Lord, '^into the streets and lanes 
of the city." This reproach is only partially mitigated 
by the labours of that most excellent institution, " The 
City Mission." Many of its missionaries, as I have 
followed them myself, go out into the lanes, and alleys, 
and sequestered nooks and streets, and carry glad tidings 
to them that have never heard of them before, and point 
out to them who have scarcely bread to eat, a festival, a 
feast of fat things provided for the soul, in the gospel of 
the Son of God. 



40 FOKESHADOWS. 

The servant then replies, ^^Lord, it is done as thou hast 
commanded." This is his answer. Beautiful and noble 
reply, to be able to say, It is done as Christ has com- 
manded us ; to be able to say. We have not done all we 
could have wished, but we have done what we could. And 
yet, the reply of this servant is far more humble than 
even this: he does not say, "I have done as thou hast 
commanded," lest it should look like taking some glory or 
credit to himself ; but the instrument is lost and obscured 
in the lustre of him that uses it : the servant does not say, 
"I have done as thou hast commanded," but, ^'It is done 
as thou hast commanded." A true minister of the gospel 
is content to be merged in the shadow of his blessed Mas- 
ter ; the less we think about the manner of the minister, 
and the more we are brought to think about his matter, 
and about his Master above all, the more excellent in 
itself and suitable to us that preaching is. Whatever in 
the pulpit, or in the worship, attracts from the great object 
— Christ — is radically defective, unchristian, intolerable. 
All that one says, all the illustrations that one uses, should 
only set forth more distinctly, and with sharper outline, 
more prominently, all but exclusively, Christ and him 
crucified. All besides is subordinate or subsidiary to this. 
In preaching we must say what Christ commands. A 
minister is not to be the echo of the opinions of his people ; 
he is not to preach to the prejudices, or to pander to the 
passions, but to carry instruction, conviction, and a sense 
of duty to the hearts and consciences of the people, and 
they that persist, by the blessing of God, in such preaching 
will prove acceptable to their Divine Master ; and of their 
hearers it will be recorded, as in the case of the two that 
were called in the first chapter of John, they heard John 
preach, but "thej followed Jesus." 

After the servant had told the master, " It is done as 



THE GREAT FESTIVAL. 41 

thou hast commanded," he added this remarkable senti- 
ment, '^and yet there is room." There is plenty of room 
at the festival still ; it is true of every sanctuary on earth, 
as it is of the sanctuary that is on high — there is room. 
There is room for us all in heaven ; there are harps that 
are not yet seized and touched ; there are mansions that 
are not yet full of happy tenantry. Some of our churches 
in London are very crowded, and some are nearly empty ; 
there is room in the visible church; and so soon as 
churches are overcrowded, then the very principle that 
overcrowds one will suggest the erection and the opening 
of another. There is room in the Saviour's sacrifice ; for 
his blood cleanseth from all the sins of all that will. 
There is room in the Father's bosom ; for he waits to 
welcome and receive us. There is room for Jew and 
Greek, for bond and free, for male and female ; for there 
is no distinction. There is no brand of reprobation upon 
any man's brow ; there is an invitation of welcome lying 
at every man's door ; and if any find their everlasting 
abode to be in the depths of ruin, they will never feel that 
they could not get to heaven because there was no room ; 
but solely that they would not go to heaven, because they 
loved sin better than holiness, and the world better than 
Christ. There is room for the greatest sinner, room for 
the most inveterate, room^ for all that will. The grand 
amnesty that is to be proclaimed from the pulpit every 
time we enter it is, that God waits for men, that they have 
not to wait for him, that there is room for all that will. 
But a day comes when the doors will be shut, and there 
will be no access or admission any more : — the sun of 
grace will then have set, and the cycles of eternity will 
have begun. 

After the servant had said, yet there is room, and there 
seemed no probability of filling it from the streets and the 

4* 



42 FORESHADOWS. 

lanes of the city, the Master said, ^'Go out into the high- 
ways and hedges, and compel them to come in." There is 
a beautiful idea couched in this. So long the offer was 
addressed to the Jew, and to the Jew alone ; but when the 
Jew rejected it, or rather, when all the Jews that accepted 
the invitation still left abundance of room, then Christ 
says, ^' Turn to the Gentiles," or it may be, the very 
lowest of the Jews : " go beyond this city, go beyond these 
walls ; go now to the hedges, and country-places, and 
highways, and there compel them to come in." And so the 
apostles did. They commenced their toils at Jerusalem, 
but their mission closes only with the limits of the earth, 
and with the centuries of this dispensation. So Jesus made 
the first offer to the lost sheep of Israel ; but when they 
rejected it, then he turned from the Jew, and commanded 
the gospel to be addressed to the Gentile. And by all 
this our Lord teaches us that Christianity was not meant 
to be the monopoly of a party, but to be the proffered 
privilege of all mankind. It was not to be a lamp for 
Jerusalem, but a luminary for all the world ; it was not to 
be a ministry of mercy for a corner, but an embassy of 
love for all mankind. ^'Go out into the highways and 
hedges, and offer the same gospel there ; offer the same 
privilege, inviting to the same great festival;" and then it 
is added, ^"^ Compel them to come in." A distinguished 
WTiter in the Romish communion. Cardinal Bellarmine, 
has quoted this text as a proof that the church ought to 
compel by physical force heretics to come into the fold of 
the true church, and be what he calls ^<^ Catholics." He 
says, this is an express permission to go and compel them 
to come in. Now, in the first place, it would strike, I 
should think, a very superficial reader of the passage, 
that such a conclusion drawn from this parable is inad- 
missible: for wdiom did Christ send out? A solitary 



THE GREAT FESTIVAL. 43 

servant. How could such a one Avithout weapons in his 
hands compel ten hundred, or ten thousand, or ten millions, 
by force to come in. It needs but to be looked at in order 
to see that such an inference is inadmissible. But if it was 
an invitation to a feast, Avhat use could there be for com- 
pulsion by physical force ? Besides, if they had driven 
them in by force, they could not have compelled them to 
eat when they did come in. It assumes that those who do 
come, feel hungry and will eat what is set before them. 
So the expression, ^^ Compel them to come in," means, 
compel them by argument, by the force of moral suasion, 
by commending the thing to their consciences, by showing 
that it is so great a privilege that they shall be compelled 
by a force stronger than that of swords, mightier than 
armies — the obligation, the sacred obligation of conscience 
— to come in, and partake of those benefits that are pro- 
vided for them in the gospel. Unquestionably, force is 
forbidden in the pages of the gospel as an ally to its 
invitation. We must neither unsheath the sword, nor light 
the fagot, nor in any similar way try to make men Chris- 
tians by force. You may bribe men to come in, but you 
will only have a congregation of hypocrites by such a 
process. You may compel men by physical force, and 
crowd them within four walls, but you will only have re- 
luctant and rebellious worshippers. But if you can com- 
pel them by the far loftier course of securing the con- 
viction of their judgments, the approbation of conscience, 
the attention of love, then you have exercised a power 
over them mightier than any physical coercion — a power 
under which they will move with alacrity and joy to the 
acceptance of those grand and precious blessings Avhich 
are set before them in every page of the everlasting 
gospel. 

We read, in a parable almost parallel with this, which I 



44 FORESHADOWS. 

will consider in our next, that when Christ came in to look 
at the guests, he saw a man not having on a wedding gar- 
ment. I can only briefly notice this. In the halls of an- 
cient mansions there were hung up robes in sufficient 
abundance for the guests, and each guest invited to the 
feast was required to put on one of these robes. The only 
custom at all like it with us is found at funerals, where 
cloaks are provided by the relatives of the deceased, clothed 
in vfhich the mourners accompany the remains of the de- 
parted to their rest. In ancient times the master who 
invited a guest to dine with him, gave him a cloak or gar- 
ment in which he was to sit at his table and partake of his 
hospitality ; and to refuse to put on that robe was to insult 
the master of the house, and to disqualify the guest from 
joining in the feast. Persons say, this '^wedding garment" 
meant a suitable state of heart: no doubt this is re- 
quired, because, unless they had that suitable state of heart, 
they would not have accepted it; but yet it was something 
that the master of the feast provided for them, it was some- 
thing not in them, but on them, and it was so accessible 
that there was no excuse for not wearing it. It is a right- 
eousness not in us, but upon us, — the robe of a Redeemer's 
righteousness, the wedding garment of a Eedeemer's obe- 
dience, which he gives us, that in it we may sit down with 
Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and be partakers of the 
everlasting joys of the kingdom of heaven. I have thus 
explained the gospel feast ; I have tried, in the simplest 
terms, to describe the most precious of truths. Have we 
approached this festival by faith, and eaten and drank and 
been satisfied? If not, we are still spending our money 
for that which is not bread, and our labour for that which 
satisfieth not. 

This festival is only a foreshadow of a future and the 
heavenly one. He that sits not down with Christ iu this 



THE GREAT FESTIVAL. 45 

feast below, will never sit down with Christ, and Abraham 
and Isaac and Jacob, in that rich festival which is above. 
The first is the pathway to the last. We must accept 
Christ crucified, or we never can be accepted by Christ 
glorified. We must eat bread with him upon earth, if ever 
we hope to eat bread with him in heaven ; and blessed are 
they that eat bread with him here, that they may eat of 
that bread and drink of that cup afresh in the kingdom 
of their Father. 



46 



LECTURE III. 

THE EOYAL FEAST. 

And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said, The king- 
dom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, 
and sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and 
they would not come. Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them 
which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner : my oxen and my fatlings 
are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage. But they made 
light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise: 
and the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew 
them. But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth : and he sent forth 
his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. Then 
saith he to his servants. The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden 
were not worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as je shall 
find, bid to the marriage. So those servants went out into the highways, and 
gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the 
wedding was furnished with guests. And when the king came in to see the 
guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: and he saith 
unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? 
And he was speechless. Then said the king to his servants. Bind him hand 
and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness ; there shall 
be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen. 
— Matt. xxii. 1-14. 

This parable is perfectly distinct from Luke xiv. 16-24. 
That of Luke occurred at a meal, while Matthew's occurred 
in the temple : the former also took place at an earlier pe- 
riod, the latter at a much later. In the former the hosti- 
lity of the Pharisees was not yet so intensely expressed; 
but in the latter case their hostility and hatred to the Son 
of man had risen to its highest possible pitch. In Luke's 
narrative, and at the era of the occurrence he records, 
there was some hope of softening down and winning to a 
better mind, and therefore all is gentle and persuasive : at 



THE ROYAL FEAST. 47 

the time of St. Matthew's narrative there seems to have 
been left no hope, and therefore there is a tone of stern 
and unsparing severity. Our Lord thus adapted his teach- 
ing, not his principles, to the circumstances and the per- 
sons among whom he was placed. In the first instance, 
the excuses wear an air of plausibility and importance ; in 
the second no excuse is pleaded, but there is exhibited 
instead, violence, insolence and contempt. In the first 
instance the deceived excuse-makers were excluded; but in 
the second their city is burned up with fire, and they them- 
selves are utterly destroyed. In Luke's the thought is, 
that the gospel should be taken away from the Jews, the 
priests, and the Pharisees, and passed over to Gentiles, or 
perhaps the very least esteemed of the people. In Mat- 
thew's, the Pharisees finally cease, and the Gentiles are 
represented as taking the place of the Jews, who had lost 
their privileges, and perished from their possession. Thus 
we see the perfect consistency and harmony of these pa- 
rables with the circumstances, the time, the position, and 
the audience of our Lord. They are not the same story 
diversely and contradictorily told, as a modern skeptic 
alleges, but two distinct occurrences, told each with the 
inimitable simplicity of inspired truth. 

Let us notice also how Christ opens up his character in 
these two. In Luke's narrative, the earlier parable — we 
read of the householder's son; but in Matthew's, which is 
the later, we read of the son of the king. The domestic 
relationship, soft and beautiful, predominates in the one. 
The royal dignity, august and solemn, starts into view in 
the other. Progression is still the law of the Christian 
dispensation. He who now pleads as an elder Brother, 
will come soon as the royal Bridegroom. This narrative 
is in fact that of a festival and marriage combined. Here 
is the espousal ; in Revelation xix. 7, there is the marriage 



48 FORESHADOWS. 

— ^'Let us be glad and rejoice^ and give honour to him: 
for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath 
made herself ready." The great marriage festival will be 
celebrated when the last believer has been claimed, and the 
company of the redeemed has been made complete. 

We read, in the narrative which we have selected as the 
subject of thought, of ^' them that were bidden." This 
great festival was no novelty : men were not bidden to it 
then for the first time. The same ample provision was 
made from the very first announcement of the gospel in 
Eden, and sinners were invited to partake of it without 
money and without price. The soul of man never had any 
other nutriment than the ^^ bread of life," nor heaven any 
other way to it than that which was predicted in Paradise, 
and perfected on Calvary. Men were bidden to the great 
festival of love by patriarchs, and prophets, and priests ; 
by the sweet music of David's harp, and by the thunders 
of Sinai's mount ; by the flaming cherubim, and by the 
desolating flood ; by Abel's blood, and Abraham's sacri- 
fice ; by the bow on Ararat, by the pillar of fire, by types, 
by sacrifices, by John the Baptist. All were voices that 
preceded that of the Son of man, sounding forth along the 
ages the glorious invitation, often uttered and often de- 
spised, "Come unto me;" and adding often the painful 
remonstrance, ^'Ye will not come unto me, that ye may 
have life." We are now summoned in yet clearer accents, 
in more thrilling tones. We were bidden before ; we are 
beseeched and exhorted afi*ectionately now. 

"Again, he sent forth other servants." This invitation 
was addressed to the Jews, we may fairly suppose, after 
the crucifixion of the Son of God, when Stephen, Paul 
and Barnabas, and Peter and John, endowed with new 
power from on high, and capable of a more persuasive elo- 
quence, went forth after the resurrection of Jesus and the 



THE ROYAL FEAST. 40 

Pcntlcostal effusion of the Holy Spirit of Gocl, and pro- 
claimed the grand embassy of the everlasting gospel : Acts 
iv. 12, ^'Neither is there salvation in any other: for there 
is none other name given among men, whereby we must 
be saved/' How glorious was this message ! how rich in 
grace ! how unparalleled for its condescending love ! '<• He 
whom ye crucified waits to forgive you. The blood you 
shed in murderous revenge is ready to plead for you, to 
cleanse you, and to spare you. You have been bidden 
once to these great blessings, and you have refused : once 
more we invite you. Through ignorance you refused the 
first invitation : you were not convinced ; new facts have 
now occurred, new light has dawned, a new demonstration 
of the glory of Jesus has swept before your vision. Far 
heavier responsibility now rests upon you than ever rested 
before. You are welcome, nevertheless, once more, just 
as you are. The past will alike be forgotten and forgiven. 
God's forbearance is inexhaustibly rich ; you must cease 
to hear before God will cease to call. Come, and be saved, 
and be happy." 

''They made light of it, and went their ways, one to his 
farm, another to his merchandise : and the remnant took 
his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew 
them." The first went to his estate : he was a landholder, 
who went to enjoy what he had possessed by inheritance. 
The second went to his merchandise : he was plainly a 
prosperous merchant, who went to add to his capital, and 
gain what he had not yet reached. These two are in fact 
the two great divisions of the men of this world — those 
that have and are full, those that have not, but hope and 
toil to have. The one is full, and feels not his need of a 
feast Avhich has no attraction for his carnal and sensual 
appetite. The other is empty, but fancies that the only 
supply must come from the broken cisterns of earth ; and 

II. SER. 5 



50 FORESHADOWS 

on these grounds they are absorbed in the world ; they 
cannot appreciate the gospel ; they make light of the in- 
vitation, and perish ignorant of it. But behind and beyond 
these two classes, who seem glued to the earth, and utterly 
lost in its supposed enjoyments, there looms into view 
another class, who reject the invitation on totally different 
grounds — ''And the remnant took his servants, and en- 
treated them spitefully, and slew them." The first class 
perished from excessive love of the worldly ; the second, 
from desperate enmity to the holy and the heavenly. The 
one was full of the love of the world ; the other burned 
w^ith hatred of the truth. The one inherited their feelings 
from fallen nature; the other received theirs from demoni- 
acal wickedness. The first class rejected the invitation 
because they were too much occupied, and had no time to 
give hospitality to any consideration of the subject; the 
second rejected it because it wounded their pride, lowered 
their imaginary dignity, pronounced as worthless in the 
sight of God the self-righteousness in which they gloried 
in the sight of man, and insisted that they should come in 
the crowd of publicans and sinners to the great festival of 
love ; and therefore they rose in wrath against the invita- 
tion, and slew them that graciously made it, or, as it is 
described in the Acts of the Apostles, iv. 3, ''They laid 
hands on them, and put them in hold." Acts v. 40, "They 
entreated them spitefully" — or, "They called the apostles, 
and beat them." Acts xiv. 5, "There was an assault 
made both of the Gentiles, and also of the Jews with their 
rulers, to use them despitefully, and to stone them." Acts 
vii. 59, "They stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and say- 
ing. Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." — Or as it is in Mat- 
thew xxiii. 34, "I send unto you prophets, and wdse men, 
and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; 
and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, 



THE ROYAL FEAST. 51 

and persecute them from city to city." Thus the indiffer- 
ence of the world breaks out into enmity against God. 
The vicissitudes of time scatter their estates and leave 
them desolate, or the words of the gospel reach their con- 
sciences and disquiet them ; and the apathy they previously 
felt kindles into intense hatred, and that hatred burns into 
persecution, and persecution completes its cycle in mur- 
dering the prophets and servants of the Lord. All eccle- 
siastical history is more or less a painful commentary upon 
these truths. Truth comes into a world of falsehood, 
holiness into a world of sin, love into a world of hatred, 
God into a world of atheists ; and thus, not peace, but a 
sword is the instantaneous and inevitable result. All who 
refuse the gospel on either of these grounds, are guilty of 
the great offence recorded in the passage, of " making 
light" of its precious invitation. 

Some make light of it from ignorance. They are, in 
the language of Scripture, ^^ alienated from the life of 
God, through the ignorance that is in them." Had they 
known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 
But ignorance palliates, while it does not remove sin. ''If 
thou knewest the gift of God," said the Saviour, ''thou 
wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee 
living water." The natural heart has no idea of any other 
peace, joy, or repose, than that which grows on earth, or 
may be collected from the scenes of time. 

Men, too, make light of the invitations of the gospel from 
insensibility. They arc utterly unconscious of their disease, 
they do not feel their hunger, they think they are well, and 
need not a physician ; they say they are rich and increased 
in goods, and have need of nothing ; and, of course, a great 
prescription for recovery never can be welcomed by those 
who have no clear conception of their moral and actual 
disease and ruin. 



52 FORESHADOWS. 

Indisposition, too, accounts for men making light of the 
invitations of the gospel. There are men who have no taste 
for its lofty and its spiritual joys; they do not like its un- 
compromising demands ; they cannot afford to be Christians ; 
they dare not be skeptics, and they will not be Christians; 
and without using the language of positive rejection, they 
halt between two opinions, which practically is to make 
light of the gospel. 

This treatment may arise also from positive enmity to 
the truth. Many spurn to be classed in the list of misera- 
ble sinners. They have no idea of their good and generous 
deeds being reckoned as nothing in the way of a title to 
heaven. They cannot bring their minds to be wise in an- 
other's wisdom, and righteous in another's righteousness ; 
and therefore the preachers of the truth are regarded by 
them as mere troublers of the people, who turn the world 
upside down, and for no good or practical purpose upon 
earth. The last class, however, is the most consistent of 
all. Such is the nature, and such are the demands of 
Christianity, that consistency requires that we should either 
utterly repudiate it, and war with it as an intrusive impos- 
ture, or cordially and affectionately accept it as the em- 
bassy of love, and message of eternal truth, the ambas- 
sadress of God, the benefactress of mankind. 

But the practical application of the subject requires me 
to ask, do we make light of it ? That multitudes do so is 
a painful and transparent fact ; and some there may be, 
who read this, who have never yet seriously inquired whether 
the Bible be from God, or if heaven and hell, a judgment- 
seat and eternal retributions, be any other than old heathen 
or Romish fables. How many are there, who sit with in- 
finite decorum in the sanctuary, and acquiesce unmurmur- 
ing in every statement that is made, and yet have no part 
of the life of God. Ezek. xxxiii. 30-32, ^^Also, thou son 



THE ROYAL FEAST. 53 

of man, the children of thy people still are talking against 
thee by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak 
one to another, every one to his brother, saying, Come, I 
pray you, and hear what is the word that cometh forth 
jFrom the Lord. And they come unto thee as the people 
cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they 
hear thy words, but they will not do them : for with their 
mouth they show much love, but their heart goeth after 
their covetousness. And, lo, thou art unto them as a very 
lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play 
well on an instrument : for they hear thy words, but they 
do them not." With the preacher they denounce the sin 
of idolatry, and yet clasp their idols closer to their bosom. 
They lament the worldliness of the world, and they retire 
to their farm and to their merchandise with no thought be- 
yond it. They grieve over desecrated Sabbaths, and yet 
are strangers to any Sabbath thoughts. How many, who 
are prudent in all the things of time, yet make light of 
and utterly despise the things of eternity ! How many 
provide for old age, their families, their profits in the world, 
and yet make light of the stupendous concerns and inex- 
haustible issues of a world to come ! 

We may judge of our state in reference to this sin, first, 
by our thoughts. What is it that absorbs them ? Around 
what centre do they rally ? It is literally true, as a man 
thinks, so is he. Has salvation ever occupied one solemn 
hour, one calm and weighty consideration, one minute of 
anxious and suspensive thought ? You have thought anxious- 
ly on a thousand other topics, have you thought anxiously 
on this one ? Is it your conviction — the conviction of your 
heart as well as of your head — that God has become man, 
and suffered and died upon the cross, in order that you 
sinners might be saved ; and yet, has this exercised no 
plastic influence, and communicated no divine tone to your 



54 FORESHADOWS. 

character and conduct ? Christianity is not a system out 
of us, wherever it saves, but a life within us. 

We may judge of it by our conversation. What is your 
predominating conversation in your homes ? Are you elo- 
quent on all the cares and concerns of life, on the market, 
on politics, on money, on ecclesiastical quarrels, but always 
silent, hopelessly silent, on the soul and eternity ? ''Out 
of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." Psal. 
cxlv. 4-7, " One generation shall praise thy works to an- 
other, and shall declare thy mighty acts. I will speak of 
the glorious honour of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous 
works. And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible 
acts : and I will declare thy greatness. They shall abun- 
dantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall 
sing of thy righteousness.'' A Christian cannot be dumb, 
if he really be one. ''Come, all ye that fear God, and I 
will tell you what he has done for my soul," is an invitation 
as natural as it is scriptural. 

Let me ask again, what are your chief cares and anxi- 
eties ? Are these, "What shall I eat ? what shall I drink? 
and wherewithal shall I be clothed?" or is it, "What must 
I do to be saved ?" The whole gospel shows its eminently 
practical character in this, that it answ^ers no curious and 
idle questions, but ever presses present, practical duties. 
"Are there few that be saved ?" is a query it replies to by 
saying, "Strive to enter in at the strait gate." Is your 
anxiety about your children, how they shall play their part 
in the world, or how they shall stand before God ? Would 
you rather they were accomplished than Christian, that 
they enjoyed the admiration of mankind, than secured the 
approval of Him that made them ? Would you rather that 
your country were rich, than holy; renowned in war, than 
beautiful by peace ; the envy of nations, rather than the 
accepted and the favoured of God? Would you rather 



THE ROYAL FEAST. 55 

that your cliurch Avcrc dominant, and numerous, and rich 
in the face of rivals, than pure, and spiritual, and umvorldly, 
and consecrated entirely to God? 

Our actions, too, are no mean exponents of our feeling 
on this point. Are these just, beneficent, beautiful, true ? 
Are they as fragrant fruits, the products of Scriptual prin- 
ciples ? Do you ever make a sacrifice for Christ's sake, 
and for his sake alone, and without respect to what the 
right hand sees, or what your neighbour thinks ? Do you 
study the Scriptures ? Do you pray ? When the profits 
or the honours of the world point one way, and the con- 
victions of conscience and the prescriptions of the word 
of God point directly in the opposite, can you count all 
but loss for the excellency of Christ ? 

You may make light of the gospel, but nevertheless it is 
true. All the experience of man, all the attributes of 
Deity proclaim it. It never has been proved to be false, 
it never can be proved to be so. You make light, there- 
fore, of that which is clear and more glorious than the 
sun. Your conduct pronounces it a fable, your resistance 
calls God a liar. You make light of the most important 
subject in the whole universe. It is a faithful saying, and 
worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into the 
world to save sinners. You may be insensible to this now, 
but you will feel it one day. Conscience will awaken from 
her stupor, and speak yet uncompromisingly. Cease there- 
fore to slight now what alone can save you ; lay aside the 
fears of the slave, the apathy of the infidel, and decide 
for God. Christianity is either an imposture, or it is 
infinitely momentous. It either enunciates direct un- 
truths, or it is the most momentous topic to which man 
ever directed his anxious attention. You incur great 
guilt, whether you are conscious of it or not : you not only 



56 FORESHADOWS. 

retain all the guilt of a violated law, but you incur the 
additional guilt of neglecting the only remedy. You pro- 
nounce your character, ruined and vitiated by sin, good 
enough for the acceptance of God ; and the grand remedy 
provided by the cross of Christ you gratuitously despise, 
and proclaim to have been utterly uncalled for and unne- 
cessary. You defy the judgments, you trample on the 
mercies of the Eternal. Sinai has no terrors for you, and 
Calvary has no attractions ; and this, not from want of 
welcome on the part of God, or of deep need in your own 
condition, but pure unwillingness : you alone — the most 
interested in the matter of all creatures in the universe — 
strangely and inconsistently make light of it. Satan does 
not ; for he toils to arrest and neutralize its glorious pro- 
gress. Angels do not ; for they desire to look into these 
things, and rejoice ever as they hear that a sinner repents, 
and returns to God. Saints on earth do not ; for they 
glory in the cross, and sympathize with all their fellow- 
soldiers in their career of glory. Saints in heaven do not ; 
for they sing without ceasing, '' Worthy is the Lamb that 
was slain to receive honour and riches and glory, dominion 
and power." Jesus does not ; for it is the travail of his 
soul ; he longs to see its fruits, and be satisfied. God does 
not ; for he keeps the earth in its orbit, and sends seed- 
time and harvest, and raises up and pulls down, and orders 
and regulates all, to give space, warning, motive to those 
who are now slighting the gospel. " How shall we escape," 
we may well ask, ^^if we neglect" — not reject — "so great 
salvation?" The freeness of the offer, the completeness 
of the provision, the earnestness of the invitation, all 
indicate what responsibility we incur. It is not feeble- 
ness, nor folly, to capitulate with God : it is duty, it is 
common sense, it is privilege, it is safety. 



THE ROYAL FEAST. 57 

Open thou our eyes, Lord, that wc may see wondrous 
things out of thy law. Scatter our prejudices, solve our 
difficulties, penetrate all our hearts with a new and divine 
sympathy, with a deep sense of thine infinite mercies, 
and a determination, by thy grace, no longer to mate 
light of that which is the weightiest, the most solemn, and 
the most instant obligation in the whole of thy created 
universe. 



58 



LECTURE IV. 

A CONTRAST. 

There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and 
fared sumptuously every day : and there was a certain beggar named Laza- 
rus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the 
crumbs which fell from the rich man's table : moreover the dogs came and 
licked his sores. And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried 
by the angels into Abraham's bosom : the rich man also died, and was buried ; 
and in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, 
and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said. Father Abraham, have 
mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in 
water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham 
said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and 
likewise Lazarus evil things ; but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. 
And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed : so that 
they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to 
us that would come from thence. Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, 
that thou wouldest send him to my father's house : for I have five brethren ; 
that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. 
Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear 
them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham : but if one went unto them from 
the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses 
and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the 
dead. — Luke xvi. 19-31. 

It is doubtful if this be a parable or a literal history. 
Part is probably historical, part is figurative ; but whether 
it be regarded in the one or in the other aspect, the whole 
statement is replete with lofty instruction and solemn 
warning for all times and persons and places. It gives us 
also a foreshadow — a dim sketch of the future. Let us 
prayerfully study it. The practical result plainly con- 
templated by our Lord, is a rebuke of that inordinate love 
of wealth and self-indulgence and ease, which has no over- 



A CONTRAST. 59 

flowing sympathy with the poor, no time or countenance 
to spare for the needy; which is far more agitated and 
aifected by an ache in its own little finger, than by the de- 
struction of a distant city, the starvation of a numerous 
people, or the bereavement of an afilicted family. Such 
personations of selfishness are not indigenous to any one 
country, or confined to any one age. • They are here, and 
have been, and will be, to the end. '^ A certain rich man," 
is the simple name of the party whose history is here 
given. He was clothed in purple and fine linen. Purple 
in ancient times was the most costly colour, indeed a royal 
one ; and extravagance and pride were exhibited by hin), 
who, not royal in rank, wore so splendid and unusual a 
robe. It is not, however, here alleged that there was any 
sin in the rich man wearing purple. If it suited his rank, 
it was right to do so ; and if it were not inconsistent with 
his rank, nothing is here indicated of rebuke. Whether 
he did right or WTong in stepping beyond it, is a distinct 
question, but it would be no benefit to society that the 
great should live and clothe themselves like the poor. He 
was clothed also, it is stated, with fine linen. This was a 
sort of precious linen among the ancients, sold for its 
w^eight in the purest gold. It was called hyssus. It is 
used in the Apocalypse as the expressive symbol of the 
righteousness of Christ, and by its dazzling whiteness it 
was a truly eloquent figure of that which has no spot or 
blemish at all. Thus, the man wore the costliest robes of 
his age, combined in his enjoyments the highest comfort 
and the greatest beauty, and gratified his vanity and pride 
at any expense. He ftired sumptuously also every day, 
lived in jovial splendour, ate the best and drank the dear- 
est, and in the language of the day, made himself in all 
respects most comfortable. Notwithstanding this rich in- 
dulgence of himself, however sinful, there is urged against 



60 FORESHADOWS. 

him in the parable no charge of positive dishonesty, per- 
secution, plunder, or oppression of the poor. He was 
free from every flagrant offence, he could be charged Avith 
nothing of what James states, (v. 1-6,) "Go to now, ye 
rich men, v/eep and howl for your miseries that shall come 
upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments 
are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered ; and 
the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall 
eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure 
together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the labour- 
ers who have reaped down your fields, Avhich is of you kept 
back by fraud, crieth : and the cries of them which have 
reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. 
Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton ; 
ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. 
Y^e have condemned and killed the just ; and he doth not 
resist you." So far he passed as a creditable and respect- 
able country gentleman. He sported and read the news- 
, papers, and cared not to inquire whether his parish minister 
preached law or gospel, or neither ; whether the next vil- 
lage was starving, or without schools ; but took all things 
easy, enjoyed himself and cared for nobody. It is singular 
enough his name is not mentioned, whereas that of the 
indigent beggar is stated. In this world the name of the 
rich man was sounded by a thousand trumpets, and was 
the title of dignity and rank. In the heavenly world all 
is reversed ; the name that was great and musical below 
is not mentioned there; the name that was scorned in time 
is pronounced with acclamations in eternity. In this 
world the names of the poor are neither known nor pub- 
lished ; in the world to come the names of the pious poor 
are recorded. Greatness alone is prominent now; good- 
ness alone will be prominent there. There is some allusion 
to this in the Revelation, (iii. 5,) "He that overcometh, the 



• A CONTRAST. Gl 

same shall be clothed in T\'hite raiment ; and I Avill not 
blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess 
his name before my Father, and before his angels." Let 
us prefer piety to power, substantial goodness to ephemeral 
greatness. This obscurity, if Christian, shall one day be- 
come ennobled and distinguished : let us see all things in 
that light which puts the world's great things in little space 
and the world's lasting things in little time. 

The great oiTence of the rich man was founded on the 
spectacle presented in the following verse. A starving 
beggar day by day was lying at his gates unheeded, or 
heeded in so penurious a manner as to be insult rather 
than benefit. That silent spectacle accused him in the ear 
of God, that uncared-for sufferer, scarcely noticed by him, 
was watched before the Throne, and the insensibility of 
the rich man who had, to the poor man who had not, was 
recorded as a flagrant and abominable crime. Sins scarce- 
ly occurring to the rich man as possible were reaching 
the throne of God, and pleading against him in the ears 
of Him whose heritage is especially the poor. Lazarus, 
the name given to the poor beggar, is abridged from 
Eleadzar or Eleadzon, which means, «' God only his help." 
It is evidence of the depth, the force, and reality of this 
grand parable, that it has penetrated with the associations 
it contains the language of almost every nation : so that in 
every tongue of Europe a lazar is now^ regarded as a de- 
scriptive name of the poor. 

The poor man was cast at the rich man's door, probably 
by some relatives, who thus rid themselves of trouble, or 
calculated that where there was so much wealth, but very 
erroneously, there must be corresponding liberality. He 
was placed under the eye of the rich man ; so that there 
could be no excuse on the plea that he was ignorant of the 
claims and the condition of the beggar. Though he had 

II. SER. G 



62 FORESHADOWS. • 

been ignorant, that ignorance would have been his fault. 
Why is one wealthy, possessed of leisure, ministered to by 
servants, surrounded by splendid rank ? It is, surely, to 
enable him to take a wider view, to move in a larger ho- 
rizon, to become more fully acquainted with every case of 
suffering and injustice around him. One man is richer 
than another, not that he may exact more, but that he may 
do more. If there be poor on your estate, v/ith whom you 
might have made yourself acquainted ; if the ignorant, 
whom you might have enlightened, your sin and respon- 
sibility are as great as if either had been placed in your 
porch and under your eyes every day. Lazarus, no doubt, 
craved the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table ; and 
of these even he received but an inadequate supply. De- 
prived of sympathy from man, the dumb brutes, with semi- 
human instincts, expressed their sympathy for the suffer- 
ing beggar. Very often the faithful and affectionate dog 
indicates feelings far superior to the master that professes 
to own him. And these dogs rebuked the rich man, and 
are evidence that sin sinks the human heart lower than the 
condition of the brutes that perish. The contrast in this 
picture is complete : on the one side purple, on the other 
rags ; the one fares sumptuously, the other desires to be 
fed with the crumbs ; one has visitors of rank, his com- 
pany consisting probably of peers, his retinue a large and 
splendid one ; the other has the company of dogs. It is 
important, however, to distinguish : the w^ealth of the rich 
man was not his crime, for Abraham, into whose bosom 
Lazarus was taken, was a rich man ; the poverty of La- 
zarus, on the other hand, was neither his excellence nor 
his merit. The rich are often gratified by hearing of the 
ingratitude and worthlessness of the poor ; the poor are 
often pleased in hearing severe attacks upon the rich ; the 
word of God looks upon wealth and poverty as merely ad- 



A CONTRAST. 63 

ventitious characteristics, having no inlicrent moral virtue, 
neither making nor marring those that are their subjects. 
Poverty of spirit is a spiritual excellence, which poverty 
of circumstance may be a stranger to. Rich in good works 
is a spiritual virtue, which the wealthiest may not have. 
God places us in our respective states, and gives us oppor- 
tunities for exercising corresponding virtues. 

Another fact it is important to notice. In those times 
there was no asylum, or hospital, or poor-house, to which 
the perishing with hunger and nakedness might appeal. 
All heathendom was destitute of any thing of the kind ; 
and some modern heathens have been discovered who kill 
the aged and the infirm, because they must otherwise 
perish with hunger. It is to Christianity, the mother of 
all that beautifies and adorns society, that we are indebted 
for hospitals, asylums, schools, and charities, and alms- 
houses ; these are her beneficent and peculiar triumphs, 
these the fragrant fruits that grow upon this tree of life, 
and with the prosperity and progress of the tree will grow 
and flourish these and other fruits that are peculiarly its 
own. Whatever faults there may be in our Poor Law, this 
at least is true, no human being need perish in our streets 
from hunger. The man that denounces the gospel de- 
nounces the mother of the greatest and most lasting bless- 
ings. No language can describe what we owe to the Bible ; 
eternity alone can fully reveal it. A day comes in which 
the contrast between the rich and the poor w^ill finally 
cease. These external features shall all pass away ; the 
poor shall be taken from their rags, and the rich from their 
estates, and both shall stand at the judgment-seat arrayed 
in solemn responsibility only. 

The beggar died, it is stated ; released from his suff*er- 
ings, the world would say ; was borne by angels to Abra- 
ham's bosom, the Scriptures say : ceased to be, is the ver- 



64 FORESHADOWS. 

diet of man; began to be, is the statement of God. Every 
Jew understood by ^^ Abraham's bosom" a place of perfect 
repose, communion and intimacy with the great and good 
in the age to come. Here we are taught that the beggar, 
despised on earth and driven to the company of dogs, is 
received into the bosom of Abraham ; and they who gloried 
that they were Abraham's children, the especial favourites 
of Heaven, whom no demerits could cast out, are here re- 
jected. 

Lazarus died first. Thus the earliest death is not the 
evidence of judgment ; the ripe is oftenest taken, saints 
are frequently gathered first. The rich man also died and 
was buried. God's forbearing mercy was exhibited in this, 
that the rich had a longer day of grace, a protracted period 
for repentance. He had seen the beggar pine of hunger 
and perish at his porch ; every opportunity of altering his 
apathy had been offered ; every day he had an opportunity 
to entertain an angel unawares. He despised all, neglected 
all, and died as he had lived. Lazarus preceded him to the 
judgment-seat of Christ. And we, too, may learn that 
our opportunities of good are rushing past, and that now 
or never we may live, leading men to recollect us as sharers 
of blessings, not as cumberers of the ground. Both died : 
in this respect there w^as no distinction, the rich and the 
poor thus meet together. The one is borne by angels 
to the bosom of Abraham, the other amid the pomp and 
pageantry of a splendid funeral. The compensation of the 
one is a procession man could neither make nor mar, the 
termination of which was everlasting glory. The com- 
pensation of the other was a procession man made, and 
which ended in everlasting and intolerable torment. We 
must care less for the temporal tent ; we must care more 
for the divine inhabitant. Thus life is compared by Au- 
gustine to a play. ^^ As on the stage some enter assuming 



A CONTRAST. 65 

the masks of kings and captains, physicians and orators, 
philosophers and soldiers, being in fact nothing of the 
kind ; so in the present life wealth and-^ poverty are only 
masks. As when thou sittest in the theatre and beholdest 
one playing beloiv^ who sustains the part of a king, thou 
dost not count him happy, nor esteemest him a king, nor 
desirest to be such as he; but, knowing him to be one of 
the common people — a ropemaker or a blacksmith — thou 
dost not esteem him happy for his mask and his robe's 
sake, nor judgest of his credit from them, but boldest him 
cheap from the meanness of his true condition : so here, 
sitting in the world as in a theatre, and beholding men 
playing as on a stage, when thou seest many rich, count 
them not truly rich, but merely wearing the masks of the 
rich. For as he who on the stage plays king or captain 
is often a slave, so also that rich man is in reality poorest 
of all : for if thou strip him of his mask, and unfold his 
conscience, and scrutinize his heart, thou Avilt then find a 
great penury of virtue. And as in the theatre, when even- 
ing is come, and the spectators are departed, and the 
players are gone forth, having laid aside their masks and 
dresses, then they who showed as kings and captains to 
all, appear now as they truly are ; so here, when death 
approaches and the audience is dismissed, all, laying aside 
the masks of wealth and poverty, depart from hence, and 
being judged only by their works, appear, some indeed 
truly rich and some poor, some glorious and others without 
honour." The distinctions of time, however covered, are 
plainly masks ; they seem, rather than are ; were they as 
permanent as they are perishing, they would still be masks ; 
but they fade, the grass withereth, the flower fadeth ; " he 
died" is part of the biography of Methuselah. 

After death and burial, we read in both cases, there was 
a future existence. The individual plainly survives the 



66 FORESHADOWS. 

body. We leave behind us at death that only which 
enables the soul to communicate with the outward and 
material world, having no use for it in that world of spirit 
in which we Vfait for the resurrection of the body. All 
that constitutes the man — thinking, feeling, knowing — 
lives for ever without suspension of the continuity of its 
conscious life. The outward tent is struck, but the divine 
inhabitant lives. The ceasing of the pulse, the standing 
still of the heart, the insensibility of the senses, is not the 
destruction of the life, but only of that machinery by which 
it acts and manifests itself to a world of matter. The 
musician endures, the harp-strings only are removed. But 
this statement, fact, or parable is evidence of the immor- 
tality of the soul. 

In the next place, this parable proves that on each in- 
dividual, sentence is pronounced at death. As you close 
the eye and hear the last farewell sigh, and see the link 
connecting some one with time snapped, before the vital 
warmth has gone, or the mourners go about the streets, 
the soul has heard its irreversible sentence and entered 
on its everlasting career. Fixture, not creation of state, 
takes place at death ; ^' after death the judgment." There 
are but two currents upon earth, there are but two paths, 
there are but two places after the judgment-seat. 

The parable clearly shows too, that at death, or before 
the resurrection, there is no suspension whatever of life. 
The future is not a long night without a dream, till the 
body and the soul are reunited. There is not only instant 
retribution, but continued consciousness : be it bliss or be 
it wo, we live. So Paul said, ^^I desire to depart and be 
with Christ, which is far better." So it is pronounced in 
the Apocalypse, ^'Blessed are the dead that die in the 
Lord, saith the Spirit, from henceforth, for they rest from 
their labours." The lost are not annihilated. ^« Being in 



A CONTRAST. 67 

torment," is predicated of the rich man after the separa- 
tion of his soul from the body. The words are very strong, 
h ^a<7ch(nqj ''under torture ;" and he says of himself after- 
ward, odo^^wtmi , ''I am in agony." This passage 

proves that the lost immediately enter on their penal suf- 
fering, and are bitterly conscious of its reality. Till the 
resurrection, such suflering, of course, must be mental or 
spiritual, consisting of remorse; thirst for wine, and no 
means to gratify it ; evil and sensuous passions, and no 
object for their indulgence; ambition, vain-glory, and 
other insatiable passions, with the corroding sense of 
suicide, and the awful and deepening conviction that their 
torment is without end, as it must be without mitigation; 
and all aggravated by the consciousness of the enjoyments 
they despised, the means they undervalued, the hope they 
cast away, the price they criminally and recklessly rejected. 
The saved, we also gather from the parable, are equally 
happy. On death there is no intimation here of any 
purgatorial state between the soul's departure from the 
body and its entrance into the joys of immortality. Ac- 
cording to Romanism, the greatest saint on earth enters 
into burning flame, blazing from subterranean fires, there 
to be purged and made fit for an entrance into heaven, as 
if God's forgiveness were only partial, or as if the flames 
of purgatory could do what the precious blood of Christ 
had utterly failed to do. 

We see, too, from this parable, that God in this life 
does not always give prosperity to the good and adversity 
to the evil. There be just men unto whom it happeneth 
according to the works of the wicked ; and there be 
wicked to whom it happeneth according to the works of 
the righteous. Honour occasionally encircles the brow of 
mean men, wealth is sometimes poured into the lap of 
criminals. David staggered at this, till he went into the 



08 FORESHADOWS. 

sanctuary of God. There is enough of providential dis- 
tinction to show that God reigns; there is enough of pro- 
vidential confusion to lead us to long for that judgment- 
day, when God shall discriminate. We are taught to 
regard wealth, or health, or dignity, or talent, not as an 
expression of the special favour of God, but as the gift of 
a talent neither to be buried nor abused, but to be conse- 
crated to his glory ; that they may be sanctified each and 
all to the noblest ends, and become ministers to glorious 
purposes. Wealth without grace is a calamity here, and 
everlasting ruin hereafter. There is a distinction and 
separation between them that serve God, and them that 
serve him not. The elements of this are in the parable 
of the Sower, in that of the Marriage Feast, and that of 
the Ten Virgins, also in the parable of the Talents, and 
in that of the Wheat and Tares. Unmingled felicity and 
joy are the inheritance of the people of God, unmingled 
misery and wretchedness and wo are the portion of them 
that reject him. The present moment is the seed-time; 
as we sow, so shall we reap ; minutes now may be laden 
with millennia of bliss, or of wo. Let not the intoxicat- 
ing fumes of sense cloud the responsibility of the present, 
or blind us to the facts of the future. There is no escape 
from immortality, there is offered to us an escape from 
misery : may we have grace to seize it and to live ac- 
cordingly. 

Whatever the nature of the places of the rich man and 
Lazarus here may have been, in the world to come they 
are represented the one as far off from the other. They 
are placed at the moral antipodes. ^^ Far off from God," 
is the apostolic description of our state by nature. The 
condition of the lost is the same in kind with that of the 
unconverted now, different only in depth, extent, and 
degree, and with this awful and inseparable feature, that 



A CONTRAST. Q% 

it never can be altered. We may not infer from the 
parable that the lost see the blessed, but we are sure of 
this, that the lost in hell are aware of the salvation of the 
saved. The safety of those that we knew in the world 
must aggravate the misery of the lost. If rays of celes- 
tial bliss ever reach the realms of misery, they will only 
serve to disclose in more terrible relief the realm in which 
sin has plunged its unhappy and despairing victims. 

The rich man from the depths of his burning wo ad- 
dresses the distant Abraham as '^ father," thus clinging 
in his ruin to the fallacy he and the Jews leaned upon on 
the earth: ''We have Abraham to our father, and we 
shall never perish." He still supposed, '' I have Abraham 
to my father, and therefore he will lift me out of this 
place; he will deliver me from this torment." He has 
learned, however, by his terrible experience that privi- 
leges do not commend us to God, but only God to us ; that 
they are not elements of trust, but of responsibility ; and 
that the highest privileges, when abused, are always the 
most terrible retributions. The very relationship he ex- 
pressed to Abraham indicates the sin of which he was 
guilty. He had nothing of Abraham's character, and 
therefore he was not owned by God. Lineal descent is 
neither an atonement for the absence, nor an additional 
lustre to the presence, of identity of doctrine and likeness 
of moral character; it aggravates the absence of it. A 
believer can say, ''Doubtless thou art our Father, though 
Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us 
not." No national position will be acceptable to God in 
the absence of righteous character. Once, the rich man 
hoped for eternal happiness through relationship to Abra- 
ham ; now, he begs from him a drop of Avater. He does 
not dare to ask for release ; he seems to have learned the 
hopelessness of that ; he was no universalist there, lie 



70 FORESHADOWS. 

asks not admittance into the high and happy place where 
Abraham was ; he saw and knew that nothing that defileth 
can enter there. His whole request was embodied in the 
words, ^^Send Lazarus/' How fallen are the mighty! 
Once he despised him as a beggar crawling to his gate and 
thankful for the crumbs that fell from his table ; he would 
now almost hail him as a god, if he would only lend to 
him the least ministry of mercy and of love. He who was 
once detested as a troublesome mendicant, is now courted 
as a minister of beneficence and of good. He asks a 
drop of water to cool his tongue, as if conscious that 
his torment was just. He asks its mitigation, not its 
removal. Intense mental agony produces the sensation 
of intolerable thirst. He who in this life had all the 
wines of the world on his table, in that life supplicates 
literally a drop of water. Lazarus, once the beggar, is 
now the rich man. Lazarus once saw the rich man in 
happiness, the rich man now sees Lazarus in joy. 

It needs no material fire to render terrible the place of 
the lost — -Mark ix. 48, '<- Where their worm dieth not, and 
the fire is not quenched." The soul is the seat of happiness 
or of misery. Joy in the soul rendered the martyr's fire 
a bed of roses. Agony in the soul reaches all the senses 
of the body, and makes every nerve and fibre to tingle 
wath intolerable pain. This petition of the rich man is 
the only indication in the word of God of what is defined 
in the Church of Rome as the invocation of saints ; and 
surely it is the least possible encouragement to the prac- 
tice. In this respect the lost rich man was very much a 
Roman Catholic. In life his whole trust was in his lineal 
succession or descent from Abraham, while he neither 
walked like Abraham before God, nor trusted in him for 
i-ighteousness, nor rejoiced to see Christ's day. In the 
realms of the lost he prays not to the God of Abraham, 



A CONTRAST. 71 

but to Abraham, and finds as the result, what aggravates his 
wo, neither disposition nor ability in Abraham to help him. 
Abraham replies in kindly and in friendly terms ; he recog- 
nises the fact of the lineal relationship, and gives him all 
the credit for it ; but this only increases his misery, that he 
was a son by blood, but an alien and stranger in character. 
<' llemembcr," says Abraham. This one word is a vivid 
symbol of the rich man's misery. Memory is the faculty 
that will survive all. To remember the great truths of 
Christianity is now the greatest bliss : to remember them 
hereafter, like fixed stars, cold and distant, must be the 
greatest misery. His first recollection is the good things 
he received in this life, — splendour of equipage, fine 
linen, and jovial fare. To earn and enjoy these he sacri- 
ficed his soul ; he sold his birthright ; he despised the 
claims of the needy, the widow, and the orphan ; and now 
he feels in all its force what he once despised as the 
aphorism of enthusiastic pharisaism, or absolute fanati- 
cism : i' What shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole 
world and lose his own soul?" Let not any substantial 
grandeur conceal our interest in the safety of the precious 
soul. The body exists for the soul, not the soul for the 
body. The body is but the temple, and all its senses are 
but ministering Levites. Let us live to be holy and to be 
happy, for these are some of the main ends and objects of 
the existence of man. The rich suff*erer remembered all 
in that place of agony ; he remembered that he not only 
sacrificed his soul in order to accumulate, but never dis- 
tributed to others, who needed what he had accumulated. 
What a terrible retrospect was here ! Thousands spent 
on himself, and nothing on humanity, on good. The ter- 
rible sting of the worm that died not was — "I squandered 
in folly or in dissipation what might have raised churches, 
transmitted the glorious gospel to distant lands, saved 



72 FOKESHADOWS. 

souls, and made men happy." We have tried in this 
world many enjoyments. Some of you whom I now 
address have run the round of them. You have kept a 
carriage, you have lived sumptuously, you have dwelt in 
magnificent houses, you wear rich apparel, you have 
splendid furniture. I do not say these things are sinful : 
but I entreat you to add one rich luxury to all ; crown 
them all, and deepen the enjoyment of all ; send out mis- 
sionaries and Bibles, to those that need to be enlightened 
in the things that belong to their eternal peace. To be 
struck from the place of eminence and power and splen- 
dour, and placed in a deep, dark dungeon, with no light 
but what is reflected from the leaves of memory, must in 
such a case be a terrible punishment ; yet this is nothing 
to the recollections and the retrospects of the lost. Their 
pleasures were sweet in their enjoyment, but they left 
stings behind that eternity will not extract ; the special 
sins of time will for ever flash before the eyes of the lost. 
He remembered, too, at the bidding of Abraham, all 
his sins. The mists Vfere swept away from his eyes, the 
apologies were all dismissed from conscience, and ten 
thousand sins unexpectedly glared in on his agonized spi- 
rit, each coming within the horizon, and bringing with it 
a train of misery, and bitterness, and wo. He had sown 
to the flesh — he now reaped its corruption. Memory, like 
a whispering gallery, returned the deeds of a lifetime in 
crashes of insufferable thunder ; each sin reproduced itself, 
and each black deed cast its cold and horrible shadow on 
the spirit of him who had committed it. Lost opportuni- 
ties were not the least bitter recollections of the lost rich 
man. What a fearful arithmetic was his ! ever counting 
Sabbaths that are lost, and lost for ever, offers of mercy 
rejected, overtures of love repudiated, sermons heard and 
despised, or caricatured, or explained a^yay, impulses to 



A CONTRAST. 73 

repentance crusliecl, purposes nipped in the bud, excuses 
that answered only for the nonce, presumptions and apolo- 
gies ever ready now seen through. Let memory alone 
survive, and it will strike ten thousand scorpion stings into 
the soul of the lost; it will be the sleepless fiend gathering 
scorching torments from the past, while imagination only 
lives to gather the fires of terrible retributions from the 
future. 

<' There is a great gulf fixed between us," w^as the awful 
and w^ithering reply. No wings can fly across it, no foot 
can wade it, no mercy will ever span it, no Saviour is pro- 
mised to bridge it. This great gulf is fixed : it is not a 
temporary accident, but an eternal fxct fixed in the purpose, 
fixed by the power of God ; "so that they that would pass 
from hence cannot." This looks as if in the bosom of the 
saved in glory there were feelings of pity for the lost, and 
anxiety to deliver them. Will relatives in glory miss rela- 
tives they loved on earth, and not desire to receive them ? 
I cannot answer. Silence, where God is silent, is our 
duty. ^^ Neither they pass to us." The gulf that sepa- 
rates the saved from the lost is unalterable : both live for 
ever, and for ever separate. The sentence of the judg- 
ment day is inexhaustible for ever : the diiference between 
the experience of the saved and lost is lasting as the throne 
of Deity ; life is eternal, and death is eternal. No ele- 
ment of evil, or of temptation, or of sorrow, shall ever 
enter the celestial abodes ; no adverse power shall ever 
reach the realms of the happy. They shall discover new 
reasons every hour for adoring the Lamb, and new oppor- 
tunities for doing so. If true now, it is still more so then : 
''I give unto them eternal life, and none shall pluck them 
out of my hand." Nothing shall separate them from the 
love of God. Take from the bliss of heaven its eternity, 
and a shadow would be cast over it all. It is equally true, 

II. SER. 7 



74 * FORESHADOWS. 

that the lost in hell are excluded for ever ; shame and 
everlasting contempt are their inheritance ; ^'they shall be 
punished with everlasting destruction from the presence 
of God," is their sentence: the bottomless pit in which 
they are ever sinking, and yet never touching the bottom, 
is their terrible progression. Annihilation it cannot be, 
for it is weeping ; nor Vfill there be any change of place, 
for there is no place to go to. Were they delivered from 
their place of torment, ihej could not live in heaven ; for 
the company of the holy would be torment to them, and 
their presence would alter the whole representation of the 
blessed : they are unfit for heaven, for they are not holy; 
they have gone to that place for which they fitted them- 
selves, and for which they are only fit. It may be said 
that their long sufferings will change their nature, but is 
there any intimation in the Bible that the sufierings of the 
lost are either purifying, sanctifying, or saving ? Does 
not every declaration show that they are penal ? Does 
punishment ever lead its victim to love the punisher ? does 
it not exasperate ? If torture could have saved the souls 
of sinners, Christ would have never died. If a temporary 
suffering could have redeemed mankind, an infinite atone- 
ment would not have been made. But all Scripture shows 
us that salvation is only in and by Christ, and that out of 
Christ here or hereafter there is no salvation. Is there 
any intimation that Christ will be offered to the lost, that 
there will be a Calvary there, that there will be a Pente- 
cost in hell ? Is not the very reason of their ruin their 
rejection of Christ ? and is not the result of that rejection 
that there is no more any sacrifice for sin ? If the lost 
are to be saved, "now" is not the only accepted time, 
^'to-day" is not the only day of salvation; the procrasti- 
nation of Felix was not a delusion, the almost Christianity 
of Agrippa w^as not utter ruin ; there will be in hell a more 



A CONTRAST. 75 

attractive cross, a more willing Saviour, a more glorious 
gospel, a brighter apocalypse of it. But where is this 
taught ? By whom is it taught ? Not in the Bible. It is 
answered, however, that '' everlasting" is used in a modi- 
fied sense and to express limited duration. We read of 
^^the everlasting hills;" the land of Canaan is given to 
Abraham ^'an everlasting possession ;" at the end of seven 
years a slave became ^'a slave for ever." But in all these 
cases there is no possibility of mistake, for the disproof 
of eternity is always at hand in the same book ; the earth 
will be dissolved ; Canaan was taken away ; the slave 
dies. In every case "in w^hich the word "eternal" is ap- 
plied in the Bible to any thing that is temporary, we have 
only to read or to analyze, and we have the proof that it 
is used in a limited sense, just as it is applied to the earth 
in a limited sense. But, to show the folly of any such 
reasoning as that we object to, the earth is called eternal, 
which means that it will not last ; therefore, when God is 
called eternal, we must understand that he will not live 
forever. But the word "eternal" is applied to things 
beyond, below, or above the world in a totally different 
way. "The everlasting God," "eternal redemption," 
" everlasting happiness," this is the origin of the word and 
its strict import : whereas, the other uses of the word are 
its figurative applications. In each of the limited senses in 
which the word "everlasting" is used, it implies, as long 
as the subject lasts of which it is predicated ; and so, when 
it is applied to the torment of the lost, it is so long as the 
souls last that are the objects and the subjects of it. If 
there be no eternity of penalty in the Scriptures, it cannot 
be shown that there is any prospect of an eternity of joy ; 
for the very language that is used of the one is constantly 
applied to the other. But the very nature of the character 
of the lost implies its cumulative character, and therefore 



76 FORESHADOWS. 

the eternity of their sufferings. They ever sin, and must 
ever suffer ; for in such a case, severed from the Saviour, 
beyond the reach and appliances of the gospel, sin is a 
ceaseless evil, never working out its own cure, and always 
working out its own punishment. It is said of the betrayer 
of our Lord, ^' It had been good for Judas if he had never 
been born." If Judas were to suffer a million years, yet, 
if there be an eternity of happiness at the end of this mil- 
lion years, it could not be said,, ^' It had been good for him 
that he never had been born." Eternity, in truth, is the 
most rapturous element in the enjoyment of the saved : it 
is the most terrible portion of the miseries of the lost. 

Every man I now address has for his final state heaven 
or hell. This is not a fancy or a conjecture ; every soul 
is rushing every day to the one or the other. We may 
not think so, we may not feel so, yet our disbelief of it 
does not prove its untruth. What a guiding light should 
this solemn fact throw upon all our ways ! Is our way 
parallel with the way that leads to heaven ? Is this step 
we are now taking in the direction of glory ? If men felt 
thus, they would quarrel less, and live and learn more. 
Every man may know much more of his future state now 
than he is disposed to admit. Few perish without strong 
and deepening convictions that such is their course. It 
was not the wealth of the rich man that ruined him, but 
the rejection of the Saviour ; it was not the poverty of 
Lazarus that saved him, but his friendship with God. Are 
we on the Lord's side ? Are we the friends of God ? Can 
we say, ^' Thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I 
love thee ?" What responsibilities are crowding into hours ! 
what weighty elements are involved in existence ! ^' Now" 
carries in its bosom ''then;" the future life is the flower 
and the fruitage of the present. May we have grace to see 
and feel that it is so ! 



LECTURE V. 

THE RETRIBUTION. 

Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my 
father's house : for I have five brethren ; that he may testify unto them, lest 
they also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him. They 
have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said. Nay, 
ftither Abraham : but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. 
And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will 
they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead. — Luke xvi. 27-31. 

I HAVE said in my former lecture, that whether this is 
to be taken as a literal fact, or to be viewed, as we are 
disposed to view it, rather as a parable, it equally teaches 
the same great instructive and solemn truths. I showed, 
first of all, the character of the rich man. His sin lay 
not in his wealth ; there is no more sin in being rich, than 
there is in being poor ; there is no more sin in the robe 
that the queen wears, than there is merit in the rags that 
cover a beggar. These are not the elements of sin ; they 
are adventitious, circumstantial things, which may have re- 
sponsibility from the use or abuse of them, but have in 
themselves no inherent merit or sin in the sight of God. 
I showed, next, wherein the sin lay — namely, in this, that 
he suffered Lazarus to lie at his porch Avithout relieving 
him ; that he had the means of aid, and would not bestow 
them ; that he heard his cry of want, and would not feed 
him ; that he was so wrapped up in his own selfish enjoy- 
ments, that he had nothing to spare for the wants or ne- 
cessities of the poor, however clamorous or pressing these 



78 FORESHADOWS. 

might be. We next read of their death. The tables are 
turned : Lazarus is liorne on angel's pinions into happiness, 
and is comforted. The rich man dies, is splendidly bu- 
ried, and lifts up his eyes in hell, being in torment. I 
showed, next, that there may be a vision, that there is here 
represented a vision, of the happy on the part of the 
wretched. There may not be a vision in reality in the 
world to come, but there will be a knowledge that some 
who enjoyed less opportunities, than we, are happy; and 
that we, who had better opportunities, perish for ever. I 
endeavoured to show what is implied in the petition to 
Abraham. It is the only instance in Scripture appearing 
to favour the doctrine of the invocation of saints, the great 
doctrine of the Church of Rome — of a sinner in misery 
praying to a saint in glory to deliver him. This is the 
most unhappy instance they could quote, for the rich man 
here asks in vain. I endeavoured to show what may be 
implied in the expression, ^^cool my tongue." I do not 
believe it was a material torment, for the resurrection Avas 
not yet come. The parable contemplates that state of 
happiness into which the souls of the righteous go, and 
that state of misery into which the souls of the wicked go, 
previous to the resurrection. Material fire could not be 
here, because there was no material subject for it. Nor may 
there ever be material fire. It is probable that the language 
is figurative ; but, at the same time, it is certain that the 
torture and the agony of a conscience writhing with re- 
morse and recollections, aggravated by all the scenes and 
circumstances from which they rush, will constitute a fever 
so terrible, a torment so insufferable, that the language 
which is here used does not over-express it. I showed from 
this passage, too, this very important inference : that we 
have here direct evidence that the soul is immortal ; that 
when the body dies, the soul does not die with it ; that the 



THE BETRIBUTION. 70 

moment the one is laid in the tomb, that moment the other 
is at the judgment-seat of Christ. The soul is no sooner 
separated from the body, than it is judged ; and enters, 
the one into its doom of wo, the other into its destiny of 
felicity and joy. It is said by some, that the wicked are 
annihilated, that the soul at death ceases to be, which is 
as absurd to the philosopher as it is unscriptural to the 
mind of the Christian. It is equally untrue, that there is 
no future torment, that it is all a dream and a make-believe. 
If it were so, our Lord must have taught what is false. 
Here, and in many other places, it is reiterated, ''These 
shall go away into everlasting torment.'' Then it is also 
stated, that whatever be the nature of this torment, or of 
that happiness, there is no change, there is a great gulf 
fixed, so that the lost in hell, says Abraham, can never go 
to the company of the saved in heaven. If they cannot 
go to heaven, where can they go ? There is no purgatory 
in the Bible ; there are but two places ; heaven and hell. 
If unfit for the one, and exiles from it, they must be 
doomed to the other, and be inhabitants of it for ever and 
ever. There is a great gulf fixed ; there is no transition ; 
there can be no interchange. The separation is a gulf so 
wide, that no wings can fly over it ; so deep, so replete with 
misery, that no feet can wade it ; and that gulf is not one 
that is filled up by the lapse of years, or that is gradually 
dissolving by wind and weather, and wear and tear ; it is 
fixed there for ever, by the fiat of Him who made the 
universe. 

We now come to the rich man's last petition. He said, 
''I pray thee, therefore, father, that thou wouldest send 
him to my father's house." llepulsed himself, and perish- 
ing, with no hope of restoration, he asks only for others. 
I can conceive nothing calculated to give a more complete 
idea of the hopelessness of the rich man in hell, than his 



80 FORESHADOWS. 

ceasing to ask for mercy. To the very last breath, the 
criminal will ask for pardon, and when he ceases to ask, it 
is an evidence that he has ceased to hope; and the very 
fact, therefore, that the rich man in the realms of the lost 
ceased to ask for himself, is irresistible evidence that he 
had ceased to hope for deliverance, because of that great 
gulf fixed between heaven and hell. It appears, however, 
that he had memory. I showed in my last lecture that 
memory would be one of the great storehouses of torment 
to the lost. This rich man not only recollected v^^hat he 
was, but, according to this passage, he recollected that he 
had five brethren. He remembered the merry days he had 
spent with them;- the bright scenes they had witnessed, 
how those of them who were Sadducees laughed at the 
idea of the immortality of the soul, or the happiness and 
the suffering of the life to come, and how those of them 
who were Pharisees were too busy gathering credit for their 
names, and phylacteries for their robes, and cash for their 
treasuries, to care much whether there was a heaven or a 
hell before them. He recollected all this, and prayed, 
therefore, that Abraham would send Lazarus to his father's 
house. Are there no Sadducees now ? Are there not men 
who deny the resurrection of the dead? who doubt the im- 
mortality of the soul ? who can soberly and coldly sit down, 
and look forward to the grave, and feel that it would be to 
them what the way-side is to the dead brute that falls in 
the midst of his toils, and perishes for ever? What a 
wretched prospect ! If they be right, if my soul is not to 
unfold its wing, and rise to realms of beauty, and of im- 
mortality beyond the grave, I must come to the conclusion, 
that the God that gave me these instincts, these yearnings, 
these longings, this thirst after immortality, is a cruel and 
relentless tj^rant; not the Father of beneficence, and the 
fountain of mercy, that I have regarded him. Every other 



THE RETRIBUTION. 81 

creature comes to its perfection, and falls and dies. With 
man it is quite different. Who does not feel, if he is a 
student, or a thinker, or a reasoner, or a reflector at all, 
that he is ripening every year? Who does not perceive 
that he is storing up facts that he did not know before; 
that he is acquiring experience which he had not, in other 
words, progressing, not receding; and that if he had the 
same years to live over again, he would live over them with 
greater consistency, profit, and peace. Is it not hard that, 
when this man has just attained his culminating glory, he 
should be instantly cut down and annihilated for ever ? As 
soon as he is fit to live, he ceases to live ; just when he has 
all the apparatus in him of a beauteous life, it seems hard 
that his hope should be balked, life should cease, and he 
should die like a brute of the earth. I will not believe it. 
If I had no Bible, I would not believe it. It is absurd ; it 
is worse than absurd ! It is cruel to man ; it is dishonour- 
ing to God! 

But there are not perhaps many who come to this de- 
liberate conviction. I doubt if what is called <^ speculative 
atheism" is a very common thing. I do not believe there 
can be atheism, truly so called, in the moral world, any 
more than there can be a vacuum in the natural world. 
We cannot make a vacuum in the air. The moment we do 
so, the least chink or cranny will let the pressing ocean of 
air outside rush in, and fill it up. Thus the old schoolmen 
used to say, ^'Nature abhors a vacuum." So I believe, if 
we try to form that exhausted receiver, called an atheist, 
Ave shall not keep him so for five or twenty minutes, or 
twenty hours, together ; there will rush into him a thousand 
idols, or phantoms, or facts, that will make him feel there 
is a God, and while he feels it, tremble. 

Speculative atheism, therefore, is not the peril of the 
age ; but Pharisaic atheism is. We have many a man who 



82 FOKESIIADOWS. 

is too busy in making a fortune, who is too much absorbed 
with his business, who is anxious to get a name, who has 
no time to spare from the counting-house for the sanctuary, 
who cannot lift his eyes from his ledger to fasten it on the 
Bible ; who does not like to think about God, lest it disquiet 
him, or about eternity, lest it interfere with his profits, or 
feel this truth in his counting-house, which he can stand 
out and brave in the sanctuary, <:'Thou God seest me." 

Many men can bear to have inscribed on the house of 
God, ^'Thou God seest me," who cannot stand it in the 
counting-house. It would disturb them ; it would be out 
of place; bad taste, not good architecture, not in keeping 
with the scene. And why? Because men put on religion 
like a dress. They will endure prayer and praise, the 
Bible and truth, God and eternity, within ''the four con- 
secrated walls," as they call them; but the same great 
truths which they think most beautiful in the house of God, 
are to them altogether discordant in the counting-house or 
the Exchange. 

The gospel was meant less for the sanctuary, more for 
the shop: the Bible was wTitten less for the Sunday, more 
for the Monday. And what you should do upon a Sunday 
is to come and hear the truths ; what you are called upon 
to do on Monday is to go and exhibit their power, their 
beauty, their influence in all you do or say. 

But the first question occurs, what can have been the 
reason that this rich man seems to express such compassion 
for those who were left behind? Vfas it really that he felt 
for the ruin they were ripening for themselves? Is it that 
there was in that heart, in the midst of the agonies of the 
lost, some compassion that made him deprecate the intro- 
duction of others into the same horrible abode of torment? 
If this was the case, it would favour, though it would not 
prove, the notions of those who think the punishment of 



THE RETRIBUTION. 83 

hell is not punitive but purifying, and that this rich man 
became better as ages rolled over him, laden with suffering; 
and that he exhibits here a missionary sympathy with the 
perishing, Avhich he had never entertained or exhibited upon 
earth. But if this was the feeling, I ask where is the evi- 
dence that it was so? Recollect we have simply the fact 
stated here, that he deprecated the introduction of his 
friends into the torment that he endured: it is not said 
that he sympathized with their condition, that he pitied 
their misery, or that he wished either to give glory to God, 
or to spread holiness upon earth. May there not have been 
other motives? May he not have deprecated the introduc- 
tion of his brethren to his presence, because they would 
remind him more vividly than ever of the sins they had 
perpetrated together ? May it not be that he dreaded their 
introduction into his presence, lest he should hear the ter- 
rible maledictions, and listen to the curses of his boon com- 
panions while they execrated his name, and deplored the 
day when the splendours of a rich man's table made them 
his guests, and the standing of a great man made them his 
flatterers ? If so, what an awful picture is this, that all the 
imagery of home, all the associations of the past, shall 
rush into the vision of the rich and the lost in ruin, and 
be the burning of that fire that is never quenched, and the 
scorpion stings of that worm which shall never die. If this 
be true, it is surely no ordinary torment that made the rich 
man deprecate the presence of his friends. What is the 
law of sympathy in this world? Let a man suffer, and his 
friends go and sympathize with him. Human nature in 
this world courts the presence of others, looks for their 
sympathj^; and he who can pour his wrongs into another's 
bosom, feels that the stings of those wrongs are to a great 
degree extracted. Here, in hell, human nature dreads and 
deprecates sympathy ; would rather suffer alone — as if to 



84 FORESHADOWS. 

give a picture, full, and dark, and vivid, of the suiferings 
of the lost. Company which lightens suffering here, and 
sympathy which blunts its sting, are deprecated there, as 
aggravations of its woe and misery for ever. It is as if, 
addressing Abraham, he had said, ^'Save me from the pre- 
sence of those I misled. Oh! let not their faces come 
before me in the abodes of the lost. There the victim will 
curse me as the destroyer. There the misled will heap 
execrations upon me as the misleader. Spare me this ad- 
ditional flame, this new and yet more terrible torment. 
Let me suffer, if it be possible, alone." What if those ter- 
rible spirits who sprang up from the chaos of 1792 (though 
it is of no use to judge them, little as we can hope about 
them) are now in the regions of the lost ! What a terrible 
thought to one, to know that his infidel Dictionary is poi- 
soning the minds of the young men in London ! to another, 
that his infidel essays are supplying reasons for extinguish- 
ing truth, and opiates for deadening conscience ! What a 
terrible and agonizing recollection will crowd around, if 
not Paine, some one in his circumstances ; if not Voltaire, 
some one in his guilt — when thousands and thousands con- 
centrate, from the whole circumference of hell, their curses 
and maledictions upon those that misled them ! 

If a man should take care what he says, let him take 
care what he writes. If we cannot say, upon our death- 
beds, that we have not spoken a word which we should 
wish to be hushed, let us at least be able to say that we 
have not written a line which we should wish to be ex- 
tinguished. The ^'litera seripta manet" — the written 
letter lasts. It is the press that makes a man have power 
after he is dead, and do damage to souls when he is drawn 
from the scenes and circumstances in which he lived. 

I pass, however, to notice another circumstance. We see 
in this parable evidence that in the future state there is 



THE RETRIBUTION. 85 

mutual recognition. The rich man in misery recognised 
Lazarus in happiness; and there is here evidence b}'' im- 
plication that the lost will recognise each other. Why 
should the five brethren, coming into hell, be a torment 
to the rich man, if he were not perfectly persuaded that 
he would recognise them there; if there were no recogni- 
tion in the realms of the lost, he would not have depre- 
cated their presence; the fact that he did so deprecate 
their presence, implies that he felt he should know them 
when they came there. May I not then argue, from the 
lesser to the greater, that if there be recognition in the 
realms of the lost, there shall be recognition in the realms 
of the saved ? If the wicked meeting the wicked shall to- 
gether add to their common agony, may we not presume 
that the blessed meeting with the blessed shall, together, 
add to their common joy ; that instead, therefore, of sitting 
upon deserted thrones, or living in heaven in solitary 
chambers, unconscious who are around them, there is not 
a friend who shall not meet friend, nor a relative who shall 
not meet relative; and that if memory survives in the 
realms of the lost, and can go and take a retrospect of 
scenes that have passed away for ever, memory will sur- 
vive in the realms of the blessed, and our retrospect of 
the toils we endured, of the pilgrimages we finished, of the 
sermons we heard, of the prayers we offered up, of all the 
way that the Lord has led us, will be no light portion of 
that joy which no longer enters into us, but into which, as 
into an ocean, we enter ourselves. 

Let me suggest the possibility of another motive beyond 
all this, for the rich man's desire to send some one to warn 
his brethren, and I suspect it is the real secret of his pro- 
posal. Just as Adam blamed God for giving him the 
woman, and as the woman laid the blame on Adam for 
putting her in the way of the serpent, so the rich man hero 

II. SEU. 8 



86 FORESHADOWS. 

is actuated less by sympathy with those that were perish- 
ing, or even deprecating their approach to himself, (though 
that must have been one element in the consideration,) 
than he was by the wish to convey to Abraham, and to 
Lazarus, the idea that he himself never had enjoyed a 
light that was adequate to lead him to happiness ; that the 
Bible was not sufficient ; that it was an imperfect book, a 
verv dark and dull book; that there needed some extra 
light, some new communication; and that, therefore, if 
Abraham would do for his five brethren w^hat he had never 
done for him — give them a better Bible, a better light, and 
a surer guide, they would escape that place of torment into 
which he had been plunged. There was, disguised under 
this sympathy with his brethren, a charge of injustice 
against God ; the whole characteristic of the fallen man 
breaking out : '^Anybody in heaven, or anybody on earth, 
is to blame for what I am ; and the last person that is 
guilty is myself.'' 

But suppose you look at his proposition in its plain light ; 
suppose the Bible is all that he imagined it to be ; sup- 
pose the wish enters into our minds as a very natural one; 
and that we should desire a spirit to come from the realms 
of glory radiant with all its brightness, and reflecting all 
its beauty, or one from the realms of the lost, with all 
their terrors portrayed on every feature of his face too 
vividly to be mistaken, to inform us ; suppose the one 
spirit or the other were to preach to us w^hat the rich man 
wished his brethren might know and feel, ^^ repentance 
unto life," would that be stronger evidence than we have? 
Would it contribute more powerfully to our repentance 
than the means we have? Would it be supererogatory, 
and of no use? or would it be the very thing we want to 
convince the unbeliever, and convert the world ? I do 
believe that the practical value of such an apparition would 



THE RETRIBUTION. 87 

be nothing. You' answer, ^'We are accustomed to the 
Bible; we hear reiterated tlic truths of Christianity day 
by day, and they have come to be commonplace ; it is too 
true, the greatest blessings cease to be influential just by 
their commonness; but we think if the awful silence were 
to be broken ; if some dread spirit from hell were to arise 
from the abode of torment; if he were to tell us that hell 
is a reality, that heaven is a reality, that God lives, that 
Christianity is true, that the Bible is true — it would more 
thoroughly convince and deeply affect us." I believe it 
would make a momentary impression, that it would make 
your hair stand on end for the time, but it would not make 
a sanctifying impression that would last for twenty days 
or weeks together; and for this very plain and obvious 
reason : the day you saw the spectre you would believe, 
you would be terrified and humbled; but after a few 
months you would say, ''I wonder after all whether that 
spectre came from hell; who knows but that it may have 
been a trick played upon me? I wonder whether that 
spirit came from heaven ; who knows but that it may have 
been some imposture, or a delusio visits? My state of 
healrii may have been bad ; I may have eaten this or 
drunk that, and the consequence was that some wild fan- 
tastic picture passed before me, and a disordered fancy 
created the spirit; it was not after all a commission from 
God to teach me these things." And what next? You 
would say, " How can I prove that it was not so? I shall 
consult a physician. (Of course he will say it was owing 
to a disordered stomach, which can very easily be put 
right.) I will consult the evidence, but I have none but 
my own recollection. I have no cold, standing, stereo- 
typed evidence on which I can fall back, and prove that 
it was a fact, which I now presume and suppose to have 
been a fancy." The excitement, too, produced on the 



88 FOKESHADOWS. 

liight of its appearance, would soon be dissipated; other 
scenes, employments, and spectacles would soon occupy 
the mind ; and I venture to say with certainty, from the 
experience of the past, from our common knowledge of our 
common nature, that the evidence of a connection between 
time and eternity . by such an apparition would be the 
feeblest and most worthless that could be submitted. But 
you say. What better evidence have we in the Bible ? We 
have evidence of the fact that the Saviour lived; the evi- 
dence of friends and foes that the Saviour died; evidence, 
on imperishable records, that the cross was raised, that 
the grave was opened, that the dead came forth, that mira- 
cles were performed, that mercies were bestowed, that 
apostles wrote, that evangelists taught, that Christianity 
commenced in Palestine, and will not close till the Millen- 
nium overflows and overspreads the earth! For your 
spectre you have only a recollection that would fade and 
become dimmer every day, till it perished for ever from 
the earth. For Christianity we have evidence, such as, if 
it were not a question of the heart, would soon decide the 
point. If a body of men could be impanelled in a jury- 
box, with no bad hearts, no passions, no prejudices, but 
only sober, cold, honest, logical intellect ; and if the evi- 
dence by which Christianity is proved to be divine v/ere 
brought before them, they would, without one dissentient 
voice, declare, ^'Christianity is true." It is our preju- 
dices, our passions, our hatred of holiness, our love of sin, 
our desire to make money, our anxiety to become great — 
it is these, and a thousand counteracting elements, that di- 
lute the evidence and destroy the impression which the 
truths of the gospel are fitted to produce. 

Apart from my reasoning, the reply by Abraham is 
conclusive. He says, '^ They have Moses and the pro- 
phets ; let them hear them." Let us see what is implied 



THE RETRIBUTION. 80 

in this. Every clause in this parable is instinct vrith 
important truth. First, it teaches that the doctrine of the 
immortality of the soul, of the future sufferings of tlie 
lost, and the future joys of the saved, was taught in the 
writings of Moses and the prophets ; that it is not an 
exclusively New Testament, but that it is also an Old 
Testament doctrine. Secondly, the reply of Abraham 
clearly proves that these books of Moses and the prophets 
are intelligible to those who impartially and honestly read 
them. If these five brethren were to consult Moses and 
the prophets, it is implied that they would so far under- 
stand them as to see the way that leads to heaven, and 
avoid the path that leads to hell. And it is implied in this 
answer of Abraham's, that it is the duty and privilege of 
the people — of the laity, for such his five brethren were, 
to read, and that it is in their power to understand the 
Scripture. In the Church of Home the Bible is only for 
the priest, (and he makes very little use of it indeed,) and 
not for the laity at all ; but here it is implied that the 
Bible was for the rich man, and for his five brethren ; 
and that it was their duty and privilege to read that 
Bible. It is the Bible in the hands of the many that 
is the best guarantee for faithful preaching by the lips 
of the few. If the Bible were in every pew, and its 
truths in every head, ministers would not attempt to 
preach Puseyism or Popery from the pulpit. It is not a 
bishop's superintendence that can put down Popery, nor 
a presbyter's supervision that can put down infidelity. 
The Bible only, in the people's hands, can secure ortho- 
doxy in the preaching of ministers from the pulpit, lie- 
member this too, that your rule of fiiith is not what tliis 
clever man says, or what that clever man says, but what 
saith God?-^not what the best say, nor what the worst 
say, nor what the most learned say, but what God hath 

8- 



90 FORESILiDOWS. 

said in his own blessed book. Let us weigh well and 
deeply these important words, in these times unspeakably 
so : '^ Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any 
other gospel unto you than that which w^e have preached 
unto you, let him be Anathema.'" If it be in the parish 
church, you must leave it, for heresy is heresy anywhere; 
if the blessed gospel is preached in a neighbouring chapel, 
you must go to it. 

If an angel come from heaven, and preach any other 
gospel than that ye have received, have nothing to do with 
it or with him. We cannot disguise the fact — Christian 
men can judge whether what they hear from the pulpit is 
gospel or not. The proper way to prevent people from 
having more than their right, is always to let them know 
what is their true right ; and if they exercise their true 
rights, they have no necessity for that terrible stretch 
which leads them sometimes to seek to exercise rights 
w^hich do not •belong to them. But there is another 
argument vfhich may be drawn from this passage, a 
fortiori. If Moses and the prophets were sufficient to 
enlighten men, and save their souls, still more are Moses, 
the prophets, the apostles, and the evangelists, sufficient. 
We therefore infer that the whole Bible is sufficient as 
a rule of faith. Was the rich man satisfied with it? 
No. He says, ^^Nay, father Abraham, if one went 
unto them from the dead, they will repent." The deep- 
rooted conviction was in his mind, that Moses and the 
prophets were not sufficient, that something else was 
needed. 

" He that is unjust, let him be unjust still," as being the 
characteristic of the lost ; and '^ He that is just, let him 
be just still," as the characteristic of the saved; words 
showing that the character w^hich is accumulated here is 
the same that is perpetuated in eternity. Be it recollected, 



THE RETRIBUTION. 01 

this rich man was a proud Pharisee. And what was 
always the peculiar demand of the Pharisees ? " Show us 
a sign." '' What sign showest thou?" It was not enough 
that they had Moses and the prophets ; it was not enough 
that they had the preaching of Christ. "What sign 
showest thou ?" What was the predominant feeling in this 
rich man ? " Show some sign. Let some one rise from 
the dead, and prove the truth by something that will 
strike the senses, and then men will believe." The very 
demand that was urged by the Pharisee in Jerusalem finds 
its echo in the lost man in the depths of perdition. 

The case and history of this rich man confirm what 
Jesus preached, what the apostles taught, and Avhat every 
faithful minister still urges — the necessity of genuine re- 
pentance, that is, regeneration and renewal of heart, and 
soul, and spirit. ^'Father Abraham, if one rose from the 
dead, they will repent : I now see the value of repentance. 
I admit, in the depths of hell, the truth proclaimed in 
Jerusalem by the Saviour — « Except these five repent, 
they shall all likewise perish.' " But mark the reply of 
Abraham, which is a very remarkable one : '^ If they hear 
not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be j:>(?r- 
suaded though one rose from the dead." See the contrast. 
The rich man said they would repent. " I tell you," says 
Abraham, ^' that so far from repenting, they would not be 
persuaded.'' Further, the rich man says. If one "went" 
unto them from the - dead, they would repent. Abraham 
replies, that they would not be persuaded, though one 
"rose" from the dead. Abraham saw Christ; and inti- 
mated that though IIE should burst the gates of the grave, 
covering it with the glory of heaven, as witnessed by 
Avitnesses the most unimpeachable, and testimony the most 
conclusive — yet even then men would not repent. What 
does this teach us ? Surely the great lesson, that wo 



92 FORESHADOWS. 

oiio'ht more and more to feel — that faitli is not a mere 
logical or intellectual conviction. The rich man thought 
it was so. ^'If one rose from the dead they will repent/' 
that is, proofs will change the heart. Abraham says, they 
would not even be persuaded, if one were to rise from the 
dead — even if He were to rise, who will rise, and become 
the ^'first-fruits of them that sleep." Here Abraham 
teaches, (and when I say Abraham, I mean Abraha.m as 
guided by the Spirit of God,) or rather the parable, as 
spoken by Jesus, teaches, that faith is not a mere im- 
pression, to be produced upon the senses by a spectre 
from hell, or a visitant from heaven ; nor a mere intel- 
lectual conclusion, to be forced upon the mind by the might 
of irresistible logic ; but that it is something that illumi- 
nates the head, and roots itself in the heart, and develops 
its power in genuine repentance, and is the impression, 
the inspiration, and teaching of the Holy Spirit of God. 
Men sometimes talk of the necessity of miracles being 
revived in order to make men repent. Need I state, that 
the Pharisees saw the resurrection of Lazarus, the brother 
of Mary and Martha? And what did they do? They 
sought to kill Jesus and Lazarus too. The Pharisees like- 
wise beheld the lame leap like the roe, the blind open 
their eyes to the rays of heaven, the dead rise from the 
sepulchre; and they crucified the power that did these 
things, as if that of Beelzebub, not God. Pharaoh, too, 
saw all the plagues of Egypt, miracle crowding upon 
^ miracle, and stroke upon stroke ; and Pharaoh's heart was 
hardened the more. The Jews saw in the wilderness the 
hard rock burst open to refresh them, the very clouds rain 
manna to feed them, a bright flame march before .them by 
night, and a pillar of beauteous cloud become their guide 
by day, the gteat sea open its bosom for the redeemed to 
pass through, and collapse upon the enemies of God, and 



THE RETRIBUTION. 93 

overwhelm them ; yet they murmured and rebelled, and 
bowed down and worshipped idols, and left the God of 
their salvation. '' If they hear not Moses and the pro- 
phets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose 
from the dead." 

But it may be asked, " Is there evidence that the Bible 
is God's book?" I cannot enter upon this now, nor is it 
necessary that I should. There is no evidence — there can 
be no evidence more conclusive in the whole range of moral 
and intellectual science, than that which demonstrates that 
the Bible is the book of God. The excellence, the beauty, 
the spotlessness of its morality, the sublimity, the super- 
natural grandeur of its truths — truths w^hich the highest 
and most gifted of ancient philosophers never dreamed of, 
the self-sacrificing lives of its preachers, its apostles and 
evangelists, the martyrdoms they joyfully met, the toils 
and perils which they gloriously encountered, are all evi- 
dences of its inspiration. We can prove to demonstration, 
that the men who WTote the Gospels copied from a living 
original. The other day I saw a cast of the countenance 
of Shakspeare ; and it was a matter of dispute Avhether it 
was really taken from the original, as persons now take 
casts w^ith plaster of Paris. A difference Avas observed in 
the sides of the face. A little muscle was noticed, which 
exhibited itself about one eye, which was wanting in the 
other ; and from this, and certain other characteristic fea- 
tures, the conclusion is irresistible, that the cast was lite- 
rally taken from the face of the great dramatic poet. Now, 
if you read the Gospels as I studied Shakspeare's face, 
you wdll come to the conclusion, that the evangelists copied 
from a living original ; that they did not transcribe from a 
copy, but that they had the original before them, which 
they transferred with all the perfection and none of the 
peculiarities of the daguerreotype, or the calotype, upon 



94 FORESHADOWS. 

the glorious page of the word of God. Need I remind 
you of the other evidences that this book is true — of the 
miracles that sealed it, of which we have infinite evidence ? 
Need I add, that from the day when the patriarch slept, 
till the present moment, each prophecy, as it came to be 
fulfilled, has been like something rising from the dead, 
testifying to man that God inspired the one and watched 
over the performance and completion of the other ? These 
are all voices from below, and voices from above ; analogies 
from nature, intimations from conscience, conclusions from 
reason, and inferences from facts to this great proposition, 
(and would to God that the Holy Spirit would make it a 
living conviction in every heart,) " Thy word, God, is 
truth!" 

I must draw one or two inferences before I close. If 
the Bible is suflicient to lead us to the knowledge of ever- 
lasting life, it is impious to ask for any additional evidence. 
If the sun is sufficient to illuminate us by mid-day, it is 
absurd to ask for a hand-lamp to guide us through the 
fields. If you have access to the fountain, you need not 
care m.uch about a ^'canonized cup" to draw with. If we 
have God's great word vouched to be sufficient — a fortiori 
sufficient, because it has the evangelists and apostles, added 
to Moses and the prophets, then we need nothing more ; 
w^e must ask for nothing more, we must look for nothing 
more. If on this evidence the Bible be sufficient to lead 
us to a knowledge of everlasting life, let us not forget our 
solemn responsibility in possessing it. Every man may 
thus carry in his pocket the witness that may condemn 
him, or the ^'savour of life unto life," by which he may 
be saved. If men would only read the Bible, if they 
would only study it honestly and impartially, they would 
find it impossible to escape the conclusion that this book is 
the inspiration of God, It needs no great extent of ex- 



TITE RETRIBUTION. 05 

tcvnal, or internal, or experimental evidence ; it only needs 
an honest reading. The greatest skeptics, I have ascer- 
tained, have admitted that they only read snatches and 
scraps of the Bible, that they never read it for any other 
purpose than to find out flaws in it, just as Zoilus read 
Homer of old, not to admire his beauties, but to detect 
defects. Those Avho read the Bible to find flaws in it, and 
therefore to reject it, will find their discoveries to be stings 
and lashes, tormenting their souls when time shall be no 
more. Let us recollect that the Bible is the last revela- 
tion that we shall receive in this dispensation. So much 
so, that if I were to see descend into the midst of the 
sanctuary literally and truly an angel from heaven, filling 
the whole place with his splendour, and every soul with a 
sense of his glory — if that angel were to preach to me 
that justification by the righteousness of Christ alone, is 
what the Puseyites call a Satanic, Lutheran doctrine, and 
that w^e are justified only by our ovm merits, admitted into 
heaven only through the efiicacy of our own blood, I would 
not trouble to canvass that angel's credentials. I would 
have nothing to do with him. I would bid him be off". I 
would say, let him be anathema. Say what you like, con- 
sistent with the Bible, and I will listen to you ; but if you 
say any thing against it, and say to me that you are com- 
missioned so to declare, I can have nothing to do Avith you. 
^^For," says the apostle Paul, ^^if we, or an angel from 
heaven, preach any other gospel to you than that which ye 
have received, let him be anathema.'' And what ^^we" 
was this ? The recent convert from Damascus. He sup- 
poses the possibility, and admits the hypothesis, that an 
apostle might preach another gospel. If Paul, or some 
one in Paul's name, professing to have authority, were to 
preach to me another gospel than that which I have re- 
ceived, I would say, let him be anathema. The apostle 



96 FORESHADOWS. 

says ^^any other" gospel, which is not '^another;" there 
are two distinct words used. It is {^Tepov\ a succeeding 
gospel — not merely something contradictory, but some- 
thing additional to the gospel. Such would not be (alh)\ 
another gospel, but a totally different gospel. '<• God, who 
at sundry times and in divers manners spoke in times past 
by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken to us by 
his Son from heaven.'' I have heard Christ's voice, and 
I will hear no other. I have seen his glory; I dare not 
suffer any other to supersede it. I have his word ; I can- 
not add to it, lest its curses be added to me ; I dare not 
subtract from it, lest my portion in the book of life be 
taken from me. 



97 



LECTURE VL 

THE VINEYARD LABOUEERS. 



For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which 
went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. And 
when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into 
his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour, and saw others stand- 
ing idle in the marketplace, and said unto them, Go ye also into the vine- 
yard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way. 
Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise. And 
about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith 
unto them. Why stand ye here all the day idle? They say unto them. Be- 
cause no man hath hired us. He saith unto them. Go ye also into the vine- 
yard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive. So when even was 
come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward. Call the labourers, and 
give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. And when they 
came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a 
penny. But when the first cam6, they supposed that they should have re- 
ceived more ; and they likewise received every man a penny. And when 
they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house, 
saying. These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them 
equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day. But he 
answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong : didst not thou 
agree with me for a penny ? Take that thine is, and go thy way : I will give 
unto this last, even as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will 
with mine own ? Is thine eye evil, because I am good ? So the last shall be 
first, and the first last : for many be called, but few chosen. — Matt. xx. 1-16. 

One of the most frequent symbols under which the 
kingdom of heaven, that is, the dispensation of the gospel, 
is represented in Scripture, is that of a vineyard. Wo 
can scarcely open a single book without finding allusion to 
it. Thus, in Isaiah v. 1, 2, ''Now will I sing to my well- 
beloved, a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. 
My well-beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill ; 

II. SER. 9 



98 FORESHADOAVS. 

and he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and 
planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the 
midst of it, and also made a winepress therein ; and he 
looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought 
forth wild grapes," and so on. And the same is brought 
before us in that beautiful Psalm, (Ixxx. 8,) ^' Thou hast 
brought a vine out of Egypt ; thou hast cast out the 
heathen, and planted it. Thou preparedst room before it, 
and didst cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land. 
The hills were covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs 
thereof were like the goodly cedars. She sent out her 
boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto the river." 
It is thus, then, that very frequently in Scripture God re- 
presents his church, his people, under the shadow or the 
symbol of a vineyard ; and perhaps one reason for this 
was, that vineyards of old were the most precious and the 
most valuable kind of property, and were tended with 
special care, and received marked and peculiar attention 
and labour from those who were their proprietors. Our 
blessed Lord also represents himself under the figure of a 
vine : ^' I am the vine ; ye are the branches ; and my 
Father is the husbandman." Now I do not suppose here, 
that the vineyard, or the kingdom of God, thus committed 
to the earth, is the mere visible church : I do think it is 
too sacred and too sublime a figure to be exhausted, or to 
be adequately met, in the mere visible church — that church 
which is composed alike of the tares and the wheat, the 
good and the bad. I would rather view the kingdom of 
heaven as a trust ; a trust that was committed to Adam in 
Paradise first of all, and which he lost ; a trust which was 
committed subsequently to the Jews, and which they for- 
feited ; a precious trust, and a holy deposit, which is now 
committed to the Gentiles ; for the use, the acceptance, 
or the rejection and abuse, of which they will be respon- 



THE VINEYARD LABOURERS. 99 

sible before God. It was spoken of in Isaiah as oeing 
''hedged round;" that is, protected from the cold winds. 
And we read of a partition wall that distinguished the 
trust of the Jews from that of the Gentiles, which was an 
inner hedge. God's ancient people, the Jews, specially 
raised up, had a portion ''hedged round," and laid out 
upon the sunniest part of the earth, and W'atered with 
genial dews ; the subject of marked and ceaseless care, in 
order that there might be one spot on the round globe, on 
which God's name might be heard, God's praise might be 
uttered, and good fruit ripen, and his glory be set forth. 

In looking to this vineyard, as it is represented in the 
chapter from which I have read the parable — a parable 
attended with peculiar difficulties, perhaps greater diffi- 
culties than any of the parables which we have yet con- 
sidered — I would notice, first of all, the labourers sent into 
it. These are Christians. I view the vineyard as the site 
of the true church. I view the labourers sent into it as 
Christians, or believers ; those w^ho hear the gospel invi- 
tation, and cordially and heartily embrace it. The reason 
for their entering is simply the call of Christ : this is their 
authority, the only and the highest warrant that man can 
have ; and the reward they are promised is a reward not 
in the ratio of their merits — for they had only demerits 
in the sight of God — but a reward bestowed by the same 
sovereignty that called them into the vineyard, not of 
merit, but of grace. 

At successive hours, we read, the great husbandman, or 
the householder, or, as he is in another place called, the 
goodman of the house — all of which are various transla- 
tions of the same expression — went out at the third hour, 
the sixth hour, the ninth hour, and finally, at the eleventh 
hour ; and at each hour he found persons standing idle in 
the market-place. It is the custom in Scotland, for those 



100 rORESIIADOWS. 

requiring employment, to go to a certain place, a hiring- 
place, and in that place they remain until masters engage 
them for six or twelve months, or whatever the term may 
be. This is the remains of an Eastern custom. Those 
that wished to be engaged, stood idle in the market-place; 
and those who required servants, came and hired them, 
and agreed with them for so much. Now the master of 
the house goes out at different hours, and he finds men 
standing idle. Does not this teach us, that all is idleness, 
however laborious it may be, which is not in some shape 
or way, directly or indirectly, associated with our own 
preparation for eternity, or with the progress of the king- 
dom of God upon earth? While we are doing nothing for 
Christ, we are standing idle, however busy we may other- 
wise be. All works for mere amusement, and not for re- 
laxation; all reading for mere enjoyment, and in no shape, 
directly or indirectly, for profit ; all labour which is for 
the purpose of getting more than we need, or to lay out in 
luxuries w^hich are really not needful ; every thing which 
w^e cannot show to be in some shape, directly or indirectly, 
connected with the spread, the maintenance, and progress 
of the kingdom of God in our own souls, or in the com- 
munity at large, are here pronounced to be idleness, how- 
ever bustling we may seem ; and those who thus live are 
standing idle, and doing nothing for God and for his 
kingdom. 

At the evening each of those hired and employed was 
called, and received precisely that which the householder 
had promised to give him. He does not speak of their 
merits, or of their deserts, but simply gives each his w^ages 
— '^ each received a penny." In other words, each obtains 
the perfect fulfilment of the promise : the last, who had 
laboured only an hour, receives a penny — (for I need not 
remark that the morning commenced at six — the first hour 



THE VINEYARD LABOURERS. 101 

was therefore at six o'clock. Those that came in at the 
eleventh hour, came in at five.) Six o'clock was the hour 
to leave off. There were no late hours of business then. 
Men then ceased their labour very much earlier ; either 
they were less covetous then, or there was less competition 
than now. Each man received a penny. Had he given 
less, there would have been injustice ; had he given more, 
there would have been generosity : but giving what he 
promised was simple and exact justice. But the moment 
that he did so, we read there was murmuring. We cannot 
conceive this murmuring to take place at the judgment- 
seat of Christ. We can conceive of questions being asked 
there, as in the 25th chapter of Matthew, where those on 
the left hand ask, ''When saw we thee an hungred, or 
athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in pris^sn, and 
did not minister unto thee ?" But we cannot well suppose 
that there can be murmuring in the bosom of one of the 
saved, at any expression of the goodness of God to the 
soul of a fellow-creature also saved. So far the earthly 
parable must be an imperfect exponent of divine truths ; 
and hence it requires judgment, or else it requires what is 
the rarest thing of all, common sense, as well as the guid- 
ing Spirit of God, to enable us to interpret the parables 
of Scripture. If we try to screw out a meaning from 
every word, we make the parable appear nonsense ; but if 
we look at the one great end and specific aim of the pa- 
rable, and regard much of it as subsidiary to that, but 
necessary for the completeness and connection of the 
story, we shall find we have generally not failed in reach- 
ing the true meaning of the parable. They began to mur- 
mur; and when they murmured, the master, the house- 
holder, is represented as answering one of them, ''Friend, 
I do thee no wrong." They thought it a very strange 
thing, and so it seems to us at first, that those who had 

9* 



102 FORESHADOWS. 

wrought but one hour, should have precisely the same 
wages as those who had worked twelve hours, from six till 
six. The householder selects evidently one of the noisiest. 
Never is there a mob, but there is a leader who is more 
boisterous than the rest ; possibly because he is the least 
hurt, or is the most independent, or because he hopes to 
gain the most. It is not always that the greatest noise is 
proof of the greatest necessity, but often the reverse. To 
the noisiest of the labourers the householder speaks in 
kind but decided terms: ^^ Friend, I do thee no harm; I 
promised to give you a penny, and I have given you the 
penny; and you ought therefore to depart, and be per- 
fectly satisfied. If I gave you less, I should be unjust; 
if I gave you more, it would be generosity : to give you 
precisely what I promised, is even-handed justice. If the 
money be mine, that is, my property, surely I have a right 
to give as much more as I like ; and when I give you what 
I agreed to do, I have done what you must own to be fair 
and reasonable. So go thy way, I do thee no harm." 
Then is added the reflection, ^^the last shall be first, and 
the first shall be last." I differ very much from, the com- 
mon interpretation of this verse. I do not know that I am 
right, but I shall state my view of the case, and leave the 
reader to decide. " The last shall be first, and the first 
last; for many be called, but few chosen." First, as re- 
gards the expression, ^^the last shall be first;" I do not 
think the idea of rejection is contemplated at all. All the 
labourers are called into the vineyard : not one rejects the 
invitation: they are all admitted; there is nothing stated 
in the conduct of one that is not contained in the conduct 
of another; there is no distinction as to their toils, none 
as to their merits ; there is simply a difference as to the 
time when they were called into the vineyard. It is then 
said, ^'Many that are last shall be first." Those that 



THE VINEYARD LABOURERS. 103 

came in toward night may yet have the first reward ; and 
those that came in early in the morning may have the List 
reward. I conceive this to be fairly illustrated in such a 
case as this : — Many persons are early called to the know- 
ledge of the truth. They hear the gospel in early years; 
they cordially embrace it; their hearts come under the 
divine influence ; and quietly and gently they pass through 
life blameless : not specially distinguished, nor character- 
ized to the extent to which they should be, by making 
sacrifices for the gospel ; but still true Christians, ripening 
for glory. Others again hear the gospel call at thirty or 
forty years of age ; nay, some at seventy. They joy in 
the gospel ; they embrace it cordially ; but they concen- 
trate into the last hours of their life a degree of energy, 
an amount of vigour, a singleness of eye, a simplicity of 
purpose, a devotedness of heart, that are greater, though 
not longer, than all the efforts and sacrifices of those that 
were called before them. Such, for instance, was the case 
with the apostle Paul. He w^as called, it may be, at forty 
years of age; yet he was more abundant in labours than 
all the apostles. Such was the case with John Newton. 
He was called unto the gospel at a late age ; yet that 
man's life was a life of wonderful vigour. So that w^hen 
we look at what some of these men have been, we must be 
astonished at what human energy is capable of, wdien sus- 
tained and sanctified by the Holy Spirit of God. Now 
then, Paul, called at forty, may have a richer reward than 
John, called young; and John Newton, called late in life, 
may have a higher seat in the kingdom of heaven than 
many who are called in boyhood, and have walked con- 
sistently to the end of their pilgrimage. Just as there are 
degrees of suffering among the lost, there are degrees of 
glory among the saved. ^'In my Father's house are many 
mansions;" and these mansions of greater or lesser size, 



104 FORESHADOWS. 

of brigliter or lesser splendour. Each heart shall be full ; 
but one heart may have a capacity for joy which another 
heart has not. Each shall be happy; and yet one shall 
be happier, nobler, and greater, than another. But that 
part of the passage on which I would differ from the com- 
mon interpretation^ — and I am constrained to do so, just 
from searching out from the New Testament — is the words 
^^many are called." I have read several sermons on this 
passage, and they all understand by it, that many are 
called to accept the gospel, but only a few, being the elect 
according to grace, accept it, and are thus saved. I do 
not think it has any such meaning. They say that the 
interpretation is, that many are called by the preaching 
of the gospel, but that only a few accept it. Now my 
reason for differing from this interpretation is, not that I 
disbelieve election — the very reverse ; I believe the doc- 
trine to be perfectly true. I cannot comprehend it, it is 
true, and it would be a w^onder if any finite mind could 
comprehend all the displays of God's infinite procedure. 
I cannot say, reader, whether you be elect or not ; but 
this I can say, ''The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from 
all sins." I cannot say whether you be elect or not; but 
this I can say, '« Except a man be born again, he cannot 
see the kingdom of God." Make you sure of the contact 
of the gospel with your individual heart, and you may 
make the lofty and mysterious corollary, — ^' yours is the 
kingdom of heaven." But I conceive this expression has 
nothing to do with election ; for the parable does not speak 
of any who refuse the invitation, but of those only that came 
into the vineyard ; for it says that all who were called on 
this occasion, cordially embraced the call, and entered into 
the vineyard, and spent their time in it. But the best 
way of ascertaining it is by finding the meaning of the 
word call. I have taken the Greek lexicon, and searched 



THE VINEYARD LABOURERS. 105 

out every instance in the New Testament where it is em- 
ployed ; and I have come to the conclusion, that not in 
one instance does call mean call to believe^ addressed to 
them that do not believe, and no more : in every instance 
it means or involves being a Qhristian. The word is ylfizoq. 
In Romans i. 1, ^^ called to be an apostle." Paul says he 
was called to be an apostle. Again, in the same chapter, 
ver. 46, "called of Jesus Christ." Again, at ver. 7, 
f-^ called to be saints." He is speaking of them that actually 
were saints. What does he mean by being called to be an 
apostle ? Being made an apostle. Or by being called to 
be saints ? Being made or constituted saints. So again 
in Romans viii. 28, he is speaking of all things working 
together for good to them that love God, «'to them who 
are the called according to his purpose." These are un- 
questionably true believers. Again, in the First Epistle 
to the Corinthians, i. 1, ^^To them that are sanctified in 
Christ Jesus, called to be saints." These must be true 
Christians, as they are described to be sanctified in Christ 
Jesus. Again, in ver. 24, ^'But unto them which are 
called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, 
and the wisdom of God." And then in the Revelation, 
xvii. 14, describing true Christians, " They that are with 
him are called, and chosen, and faithful." These are 
Christ's own people. Thus I have given, I think, nearly 
every instance of the word y^^roq, in its singular or plural 
number, occurring in the New Testament ; and in every 
instance it means truly converted. 

I think therefore I am warranted in putting this inter- 
pretation on the text, seeing the whole usage of Scripture 
speaks in the same way ? 

' I understand, therefore, that " many are called" implies, 
not that many are called who reject the gospel, but that 
there are many Christians, but few pre-eminently, dis- 



106 FORESHADOWS. 

tinctively, peculiarly so. It Is a difference of degree in 
Christian character, not a distinction between those who 
are not Christians and those vfho are. Many are called, 
that is, there are many Christians, but few are the eyley,ro\. 
The origin of the word is the same : that is, distinctively ^ 
emphatically^ peculiarly called^ so as to rise and tower 
above the rest, like Paul in the college of apostles ; or 
like pre-eminent Christian ministers and Christian people, 
among the multitude around them. 

There is a sovereignty in it ; but it is a sovereignty not 
iti excluding some and admitting others, but a sovereignty 
that deals with Christians in making some specially and 
signally illustrious for their devotedness, piety, and Chris- 
tian character. I cannot, therefore, taking the passage 
fairly in connection with other passages of holy writ, come 
to any interpretation but this. I admit there is sove- 
reignty here ; but is there not sovereignty in every thing ? 
There is sovereignty in creation ; one man is born strong, 
another weak; one healthy, another sickly and delicate; 
one heir to a fortune, another heir to poverty and drudgery. 
Is not this sovereignty ? There is no merit or demerit in 
the babe ; it is the sovereignty of God that makes the dis- 
tinction. Again, there is sovereignty in providence ; one 
man, do what he will, becomes richer ; another man, strive 
as he may, becomes poorer : one man is wrecked in storms 
and tempests ; another man basks perpetually in sunshine. 
You cannot altogether, in every instance, say it is the 
folly of the one and the excellence of the other ; but you 
must see above all merit, and beyond all demerit, a sove- 
reignty dealing with men, and arranging them as to that 
sovereignty seems best. We little know what little things 
we are, and how completely we are in the hand and under 
the control and the disposal of Deity. We see sove- 
reignty in the calling of Abraham — why was he selected — 



THE VINEYARD LABOURERS. 107 

an idolater in Ur of the Chaldees ? in the choice erf Jacob ; 
in the selection of the Jews to be a peculiar nation — why 
were they selected ? These are all instances of sove- 
reignty; and there is sovereignty in our conversion. 
<^Who hath saved us and called us with a holy calling," 
says the apostle. ^'Many are called," is the rendering 
of the very same word, only in another form, which is 
translated here '^calling." "Who hath saved us, and 
called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, 
but according to his ow^n purpose.'' And again, he said 
to his disciples, "Ye have not chosen me, but I have 
chosen you." In other words, it tells us that God has 
bestowed special distinctions upon some of his people 
which he has withheld from others ; that all Christians are 
"the called ;" that the few and far between tower above 
the rest, and are signalized by eminent devotedness and 
self-sacrifice for God. 

Now then, from the whole of this, if this be the fair 
interpretation of the parable, w^e learn this lesson ; that 
it is not the time of our service that God looks at so much, 
or that we should think of, but the intensity of our devo- 
tedness during the time, short or long that is given us. 
Every man should presume that the time that remains for 
him is short, and that the more he can crowd into the 
little space that remains, of consecration to God, of sym- 
pathy with those that suffer, of devotedness to what is 
good, of sacrifice for the promotion of what is beneficent 
and holy, the more likely he is to be among the exh/'o] 
w^ho are distinguished in the kingdom of heaven, and not 
merely among the x^^rjTo\ who are Christians of the ordi- 
nary stamp and cast. 

In the second place, we learn that God w^ill be true to 
his promises, the least and the greatest of them. There 
was not one of those in the vineyard wdio could say, " You 



108 FORESHADOWS. 

made me a promise wliicli you have not performed ;" they 
were constrained to say, ^' You have given us all you pro- 
mised." When we stand in the kingdom of God, we shall 
not find that there was one jot in. one promise that has 
not been amply realized and fulfilled in our experience. 
God's promises are stronger than man's performance. 
We may rely upon the least promise of God more 
surely, and with more unhesitating confidence, than we 
can rely upon the everlasting hills, or upon any created 
thing in the universe of God.^ Faithful is he that has 
promised ; all his promises are yea and amen ; and when 
heaven shall have passed away like a scroll, and the earth 
and the things that are therein shall be burned up, we shall 
find fulfilled what he has said, that not one jot or tittle has 
failed of all the promises of God. 

Again, we learn that some reach higher degrees of glory 
than others. Certainly throughout the Bible there seems 
to be a promise that some, who especially abound in devo- 
tedness to God, shall reach higher degrees of glory. 
Never, however, misapprehend me for a moment. Our 
right and title to heaven, is the finished vfork and righteous- 
ness of our blessed Lord. Nothing else, nothing instead 
of it, nothing added to it, nothing beside it; it is that 
alone. 

But at the same time our justification and acceptance 
with God is not the close of our Christianity : it is only 
the commencement of it. It is elevating us to that plat- 
form, standing upon which, we can see God as our Father, 
and thence go forth as sons to serve him. If there be 
degrees of service, may there not be degrees of glory? 
If there be degrees of consecration below, may there not 
be degrees of happiness above ? I do not believe that 
heaven is a macadamized place, a mere dead level; or 
that all is equality there. Fraternity there is ; equality 



THE VINEYARD LABOURERS. 109 

there is not. I believe there are degrees of glory, grada- 
tions of blessedness, crowns that differ in their lustre, 
hearts that differ in their beats ; just as one star differeth 
from another in glory. ^^Thcy that be wise, and turn 
many to righteousness, shall shine as the stars in the firma- 
ment for ever and ever." And yet there shall be no 
merit on our part ; the least particle of grace, and the 
loftiest and richest flood of glory, shall equally come from 
free grace. So that he that rises to the highest pinnacle 
of the highest throne in heaven, and he that worships in 
the same sunshine at the foot of it, shall equally feel that 
they were saved by grace, and shall equally sing. Not unto 
us, ««but unto him that loved us, and washed us from our 
sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests 
unto God and his Father, be glory and dominion for ever 
and ever." 

Let us learn another lesson. God is sovereign, and yet 
just. If he makes difference of labour below, and gives 
difference of reward above, there is sovereignty in that ; 
because if one man excels another in devotedness, it is 
because there has been given to one man an excess of 
grace over ^^hat has been given to another. And yet no 
one will say that God is unjust. <^ He is faithful and just 
to forgive ;" he is sovereign to add to that forgiveness 
distinguished and innumerable blessings. "Just and true 
art thou, King of saints." And does not this teach 
us, that if God is thus sovereign in distinguishing us and 
in making us to differ, that we should be prepared to see in 
the church some ministers much more devoted than others, 
and some people much more self-sacrificing than others ; 
some that live more entirely and continuously for the 
spread of the kingdom of God, and for the truths of 
the gospel of Christ. And if we see it, that should not 
make us envious. You must not envy one Christian be- 

XI. SER. 10 



110 FORESHADOWS. 

cause lie excels you in gifts and graces. You must not 
look with contempt upon another who has not the same 
gifts, and is a stranger to the full and glorious graces 
that you have. You must always say, "Who hath made 
us to differ?" "Why am I greater than this man?" 
" Why am I inferior to another?" The answer is, that 
God, in his sovereignty, has made the difference ; ai:id the 
inference is, that you are responsible to God, not for w^hat 
a brother is, but for what you have and are before God. 

All in the market-place were invited into the vineyard. 
So is it still. The invitations of the gospel are addressed 
to all ; all are welcome to embrace them ; and if any do 
not accept them, they will never forget it is their own 
fault, and their own fault alone. No man yet was ever 
able to urge at the judgment-seat, or is able to urge upon 
earth, "When I wished to believe in the Saviour, to 
renounce sin and cleave to Christ, I found a decree like a 
wall of brass standing in the way, and separating me from 
Christ." There is no such thing. No man's conscience 
is bad enough to make such an excuse; and those who 
quarrel about predestination and election being difficulties, 
are beginning to study at the university befoje they have 
entered the dame's school and learned the elements of 
reading. Let us be Christians first ; let us study mysteries 
next. Let us see that we accept the call ; and then it will 
be time, as the sons of God, admitted to a clearer light, 
to study the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. Nay 
more ; study prophecy — by all means study it ; but let the 
preacher take care, and let the people remember that it is 
possible to discuss the rise and fall of kings, and the pro- 
gress of that glorious kingdom into w^hich all the kingdoms 
of this world shall be brought, and yet to have no lot or 
share in it. Nothing must supersede, nothing must lead 
us to postpone, our own personal acceptance of the gospel, 



THE VINEYARD LABOURERS. Ill 

our own acceptance of Christ as our priest, and prophet, 
and king. Let us be sure of this first. This is impera- 
tive ; all else is non-essential. This is personal ; all else 
relates to things external to us. ^'Except ye be born 
again, ye cannot see the kingdom of God." 

Let me notice, in the next place, a very important and 
interesting truth, namely, that sinners are converted in 
old age. Now it is very curious that those men who dwell 
upon the passage, ^'many are called, but few chosen," 
and interpret ^^many are called," as those who are merely 
invited, but refuse; and ^' few are the chosen," as those 
that really accept, believe that there is salvation at the 
eleventh hour. I find this strange inconsistency in almost 
all the sermons that are written on this parable. It is an 
inconsistency ; for the passage, according to their interpre- 
tation of it, indicates no such thing as salvation at the 
eleventh hour. I understand all that are called^ to be 
those that are saved ; — those that are called at the first, 
the third, the sixth, the ninth, and the eleventh hour, to 
be the saved. And, therefore, I believe there is salvation 
and acceptance for the oldest criminal at the latest year 
of his pilgrimage upon earth. If you postpone the 
thoughts of God, the soul, eternity, until old age, calcu- 
lating on this, that is a very different thing ; but if at this 
moment I find you old — with one foot on the brink of the 
grave, and one foot in it — to you there is freely, fully 
offered, instant peace w^ith God, just as truly, as plainly, 
as it is ofi*ered to the youngest man or w^oman upon earth. 
At the eleventh hqur they obeyed, just as they did at the 
first hour ; and both those called at the first, hnd those at 
the eleventh hour, entered the vineyard and laboured for 
God. Then what a consolation is this, that if the young 
are specially invited, the old are not excluded ! And what 
a comfort is this, that one can go to the bed of the dying, 



112 FORESHADOWS. 

and though it should be at the eleventh hour, though it 
be upon the stroke of the twelfth, yet who can say that 
the pointing out of the Lamb of God, and the efficacy of 
his blood, in a minute's sermon at the bedside, may not be 
blessed as much as an hour's in the house of prayer ; the 
exhibition of Christ to the expiring eye of the soul may be 
salvation, just as the exhibition of the serpent of brass to 
the closing eye of the dying man upon the field of old 
was instant health, strength, and recovery. 

Amazing happiness ! What a glorious gospel is this, 
that warrants one to go to the hearts that are free, and 
the hearts that are bound, and say to every one without 
exception, «' Believe thou on Jesus Christ, and thou shalt 
be saved." Nay, it is remarkable enough, that almost 
every instance in the Bible of the conversion of men who 
had advanced in year sunconverted, was one of w^hat seems 
instant conversion. In the case of the jailer of Philippi, 
who inquired, ''What must I do to be saved?" the answer 
given was, ''Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou 
shalt be saved, and thy house." What is added? "He 
rejoiced, believing in God with all his house." In the same 
hour the man believed the gospel, and rejoiced in the 
belief and the acknowledgment of that gospel. I do not 
think that, when a person is dying, it is right to say, 
" He is too old to see a minister or a Christian — (I do not 
much care whether it be the one or the other ;) he is too 
ill, too far gone." Do not say that there is no hope, as 
long as life lasts : but go, tell them of the instant cure for 
all degrees and shades of sin. Many a soul upon the very 
verge of the twelfth hour, has been plucked as a brand 
from the burning, and entered into the realms of ever- 
lasting glory. I know not what despair is with such a 
book in my hand as the Bible, and such a gospel as 
Christ's gospel in my heart. I despair of none ; I 



THE VINEYARD LABOURERS. 113 

would give over none ; I would speak to all ; pray with 
all ; and leave the Sovereignty that controls angels and 
saves men, to do his Avill when, where, and as it shall be 
most for his glory, and for our good. Here lie the virtue 
and glory of the gospel ; it is an instant and miraculous 
cure for all sorts of moral, desperate soul-diseases. Let 
us never forget this, by the pillows of the sick, at the bed- 
side of the dying, or wherever we may be. 

A beautiful extract from a paper has been sent me, 
detailing a narrative of great interest. At the battle of 
Moodkee, some years ago, a priest was seen administering 
the Romish sacrament to the dying ; but on a more recent 
occasion in India there Avas also a Protestant minister who 
volunteered his aid, and became a missionary recruit, as it 
were, in order to minister to the wounded and the dying, 
and carry to them the knowledge of a Saviour able to 
save to the uttermost ; and amid bullets that were hissing 
past like hail, he was calmly doing his Master's work, and 
seeking to instruct souls. Let it not be said that Popery 
alone can make sacrifices : here was a Protestant making 
the greatest sacrifice. And who will say that many a poor 
mother's son who marched in that army, and entered it 
with a cold and careless heart, fearing neither God nor 
man, but obedient to the orders of his superior, was not 
thus benefited ? — who will doubt that that faithful minister 
may have been the instrument of many a soul's leaving its 
mangled body to appear with a palm in its hand, washed 
and made white in the blood of the Lamb ? War is a 
terrible thing ; but yet its dark shadows are illuminated 
by such traits as these. 

But to return to the point under notice. I wish to 
state my conviction of the importance of there being pious 
men connected with our armies, that there should be chap- 
lains in our ships and regiments, so that our defenders 



114 FORESHADOWS. 

may not at any time be without Christian instruction, still 
less at the last moment of their precarious existence, be 
without spiritual comfort. For I do believe, and I repeat 
my belief, that there is no man so advanced in life, or so 
near to death, but that the whisper of a Saviour's sacrifice 
may be a message to salvation. 

This parable, I need not add, destroys all human merit. 
It is sovereignty from first to last; it is grace from first to 
last ; for it is the great law of .God, that the last shall be 
first, and the first last. 

In conclusion, let us be thankful that we are born in a 
land in which the tidings of the vineyard, and of a welcome 
into it, are proclaimed, and announced from so many pul- 
pits. Great is our responsibility ! May we have grace to 
feel it so. 

Have we ourselves entered into that vineyard? We 
are doing much for Caesar : what are we doing for Christ ? 
We are doing much for our own advantage in society: 
what are we doing for the spread of that gospel whose in- 
direct reflection are all the blessings we enjoy as a country 
and as a people ? What place in our heart does eternity 
occupy ? How often do we think of it ? Does it ever 
occur to us, that the best evidence of acceptance with God, 
is what we pray for when no ear can hear, no eye can see, 
and no man can judge, but God himself? Do we ever, in 
the midst of our toils, lift up the heart beyond the ever- 
lasting hills ? Does the counting-house ever become con- 
secrated by the consoling thought that does not pause in 
its upward flight till it'has reached the ear of God, and is 
heard amid the songs of the cherubim ? Have we entered 
that vineyard ? Are we the people of God ? 

Seek first the kingdom of God. Begin life, I say to the 
young, with religion; carry on life with religion; enter 
upon every new duty, upon every new sphere, upon every 



THE VINEYARD LABOURERS. 115 

new relationsliipj with a deep sense of responsibility to 
God, and a deep conviction that the practice of piety is 
the experience of the truest happiness. 

It is here also important to observe that every figure 
used to describe a Christian, negatives the idea of indo- 
lence. Christians are labourers ; they are placed in a 
vineyard, in which they are to labour. ^'Labour not for 
the meat which perisheth." ^' Other men laboured, and 
ye are entered into their labours." We are ^'fellow- 
labourers with God." Thus we see that while religion is 
happiness, it is not indolence. While Christians are made 
happy, let us not forget that thep are called upon to dis- 
charge duties. 

As we are here represented as placed in a vineyard, and 
as labourers in it, two things, we must not forget, are ne- 
cessary to success : the terrestrial labour, wdiich is ours ; 
and the celestial labour, which is God's. Take the finest 
soil, and the sunniest side of the hill ; still the vine will 
not grow, grapes will not be produced, unless there be 
congenial sunshine, and descending rains and dews from 
heaven ; and on the other hand, should there be sunshine, 
and dews, and rains, and a fertile soil, and every thing 
required from above ; but no weeding, no pruning, no culti- 
vating, no clearing — there will be no grapes. God has so 
ordered things, that the means and the blessing go to- 
gether ; and he that does not use the means, has no right 
to expect the blessing ; while he that does use the means, 
and pray for the blessing, is sure to find it. Let us, there- 
fore, pray the Lord of the vineyard, that he will send out 
other labourers still into the vineyard. Let us pray, that 
there may, day by day, be an abundant increase in the 
earth, so that when he comes again, he may find its desert 
places rejoicing, and its solitary places blossoming as the 
rose. 



116 



LECTURE VII. 

THE FRUIT OF FORGIVENESS. 



And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he 
went into the Pharisee's house, and sat down to meat. And, behold, a 
woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at 
meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment> and 
stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, 
and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and 
anointed them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee which had bidden 
him saw it, he spake within himself saying, This man if he were a prophet, 
would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth 
him : for she is a sinner. And Jesus- answering said unto him, Simon, I 
have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith. Master, say on. There was 
a certain creditor which had two debtors : the one owed five hundred pence, 
and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave 
them both. Tell me, therefore, which of them will love him most? Simon 
answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he 
said unto him. Thou has rightly judged. And he turned to the woman, and 
said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman ? I entered into thine house, thou 
gavest me no water for my feet : but she hath washed my feet with tears, 
and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou gavest me no kiss : but 
this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My 
head with oil thou didst not anoint : but this woman hath anointed my feet 
with ointment. Wherefore I say unto thee. Her sins which are many, are 
forgiven ; for she loved much : but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth 
little. And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. And they that sat at 
meat with him began to say within themselves. Who is this that forgiveth 
sins also ? And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee ; go in 
peace. — Luke vii. 37-50. 

I WOULD read first the narrative in another parable, 
Matthew xxvi. 6-13 : ^^Now when Jesus was in Bethany, 
in the house of Simon the leper, there came unto him a 
woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, 
and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat. But when 



THE FRUIT OF FORGIVENESS. 117 

tlic disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To -what 
purpose is this waste ? For this ointment might have 
been sold for much, and given to the poor. When Jesus 
understood it, he said unto them, Why trouble ye the 
woman ? for she hath wrought a good Avork upon me, for 
ye have the poor always with you ; but me ye have not 
always. For in that she hath poured this ointment on 
my body, she did it for my burial. Verily I say unto you, 
Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole 
world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be 
told for a memorial of her." In John xii. 1-8, we read, 
''Then Jesus six days before the passover canie to Bethany, 
where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised 
from the dead. There they made him a supper ; and 
Martha served : but Lazarus was one of them that sat at 
the table with him. Then took Mary a pound of ointment 
of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, 
and wiped his feet with her hair : and the house was filled 
with the odour of the ointment. Then saith one of his 
disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray 
him. Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred 
pence, and given to the poor ? This he said, not that he 
cared for the poor ; but because he was a thief, and had 
the bag, and bare what was put therein. Then said Jesus, 
Let her alone; against the day of my burying hath she 
kept this. For the poor always ye have with you ; but me 
ye have not always." These passages are substantially 
alike, they relate to precisely the same thing. 

How happens it that a woman so described found unob- 
structed access to these hospitalities? It can only be ex- 
plained by a fact related in the following extract from a 
mission of inquiry to the Jews conducted under the auspices 
of the Church of Scotland ; which is as follows : — " At dinner 
at the consul's house at Damietta, in the room beside the 



118 FORESHADOWS. 

divan in which we sat, were seats all round the room. Many 
came in and took their places on the side seats uninvited. 
They spoke to those at table on the news of the day, and 
our host spoke to them in return. We were reminded of 
the scene at Simon's house at Bethany. We afterward 
saw the same custom at Jerusalem. We were sitting round 
Mr. Nicolayson's room, when first one and then another 
stranger came in and took his seat beside us." The wo- 
man recorded by Luke came plainly, not from curiosity, or 
from mere forwardness of disposition, but from a deep 
sense and feeling of sin, and its shadow — the misery that 
ever accompanies it. She was bold, not from the hardening 
effects of sin, but from earnest anxiety to see the Saviour, 
and to obtain from him the blessing that she felt she truly 
needed and he could bestow. The Pharisee had no idea 
of Christ as the great Sin-forgiver, nor any sympathy with 
the woman as a forgiveness-seeker. He held it, in common 
with his sect, the very highest virtue to stand aloof from 
all that was ceremonially unclean. ^<^ Stand aside; lam 
holier than thou," was the characteristic feeling of a Pha- 
risee. This is not the spirit of the gospel, nor the tone or 
temper of a Christian. Deeply the sinner is to be pitied, 
however sternly the sin in which he indulges ought to be 
rebuked. The sinner is far from unpunished upon earth, 
he suffers even here for his sins ; he pays terrible penalties 
even in this life. Pain, disappointment, and remorse are 
no light penalties, which he is doomed to suffer as the efi*ects 
of his transgressions. And he gathers up for the future 
yet more terrible retribution. He needs deeply to be pitied. 
It is not the cold, sarcastic remark, or the bitter theolo- 
gical rancour, or the ceremonial and sectarian repugnance, 
that will do him good. We must speak in tones of human 
pity, of deep yet holy sympathy, and be ready to point 
out the nature and the issues of his transgression. 



THE FRUIT OF FORGIVENESS. 110 

The remark was made, '<• This man, if he were a prophet, 
would liave known who and what manner of w^oman this 
is." Now, in truth, all that Christ had done was to receive 
the expressions of her disinterested love, the just tribute 
of one who saw in herself the greatest of sinners, and in 
Jesus the Son of God come down to bless mankind, and 
therefore implored not without hope the pardon she so 
earnestly felt the need of. Her kiss was the symbol of her 
love, her bathing his feet with her tears the proof of sor- 
row, her wiping them with the hairs of her head — her chief 
ornament and beauty — was the exponent of her profound 
humility. The touch of a Gentile, or one ceremonially 
unclean, was pollution to the Pharisee. Simon's remark, 
therefore, indicated the genuine belief that the Messiah 
was the great Prophet, the Discerner of spirits, and the 
Searcher of hearts; just as Nathanael, on seeing him, ex- 
claimed, ^'Thou art the Son of God, the King of Israel;" 
and the woman of Samaria, '' Come, see a man who told me 
all things. Is not this the Christ?" 

The Saviour showed that he perfectly understood the 
thoughts of all, as well as the peculiar workings of the 
spirit in Simon's bosom. The parable he begins at verse 
41, <' There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: 
the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty." We 
are not by this to understand that the greatest sinner, if 
forgiven, is always the greatest lover of the Saviour. The 
thought is more subjective than objective. It is our con- 
sciousness of sin, not another's perception of it, which is 
followed by our receiving that forgiveness which creates 
the warmest love. Simon had little sense of his sin, though 
his sin may have been as great, and therefore little grati- 
tude for forgiveness. This Avoman was overwhelmed by a 
deep sense of sin, not greater sin than Simon's, but more 



120 FORESHADOWS. 

deeply felt, and therefore her gratitude and love were cor- 
responding to the depth of her conviction of sin. 

^^ Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, 
are forgiven, for she loved much." There is a difficulty 
here. The parable implies that love is the fruit of for- 
giveness ; not that forgiveness is the fruit of love. He who 
owed the large debt was not forgiven because he felt greater 
love to the creditor ; but the sense of the larger debt, first 
forgiven, made him feel in consequence the greater love. 
Hence the next clause, "He to vfhom little is forgiven, the 
same loveth little." Some think love is here put for faith, 
— the fruit for the root. It is equivalent to the expression 
in verse 60, ^^Thy faith hath saved thee." Others prefer 
rendering the Greek word ore, "because," by "therefore," 
and so reading "therefore she loved much," giving it, not 
a causal, but a demonstrative force. Others translate it, 
"Inasmuch as she has given full proof of her love; and 
this love thus manifested is the evidence of forgiveness." 
Coleridge, in his "Literary Remains," has the following 
excellent remarks on a distinction very frequently over- 
looked : " Sin is disease. What is the remedy ? Charity 
— charity in the large apostolic sense — is the healthy state 
to be obtained by the use of the remedy, not the sovereign 
balm itself, which is faith in the Godhead, the manhood, 
the cross, the mediation, the perfect righteousness of Jesus, 
together with the rejection and abjuration of all righteous- 
ness of our own. The Eomish scheme is preposterous. It 
puts the stream before the fountain. Faith is the source, 
and charity is the whole stream of Christian love. It is 
quite childish to talk of faith being imperfect without 
charity. As wisely might you say that a fire, however 
bright and strong, is imperfect without heat; or that the 
sun, however cloudless, is imperfect without beams. The 



THE FRUIT OF FORGIVENESS. 121 

true answer is, that such is not faith, but utter and repro- 
bate faithlessness." 

In the whole of the parable, sins are likened unto debts. 
God, the Sin-forgiver, is regarded as the creditor ; men as 
debtors, all with different degrees of criminality. God's 
forgiveness is described in the word ^'frankly," and the 
fruit of that forgiveness is embodied in its effect — love, 
and that love develops itself in obedience. Sin is our 
debt of obedience due to God. Perfect payment is no 
merit, it is only justice. But we have utterly failed to 
render such payment, and fail every day, and are thus 
liable to all the pains and penalties of a law that we have 
broken. Sin is the w^orst of all debt; it is against the In-^ 
finite God. It is therefore of infinite demerit. David had 
sinned against Uriah and Bathsheba ; but what he felt to 
be the true significance, and reach, and result of sin, was 
what he expressed in these words, ^^ Against thee, thee only 
have I sinned." Sin is a debt that multiplies beyond cal- 
culation. David counted his days, his sins defied arithmetic. 
One sin is the seed of a thousand, and trespasses grow till 
they overwhelm us. Well then did one say, " If thou. Lord, 
shouldest mark iniquity, Lord, who could stand?" 

Debts in this w^orld may be forgotten; but our debts to 
God can never be forgotten, until they have been forgiven 
with plenary and irreversible forgiveness. To the Infinite 
Mind the whole past is luminous, every thought and word 
and action visible. Our present immunity is not therefore 
the effect of any ignorance in God. And, however long 
God's judgment may be suspended, it is not because he is 
not cognizant of what we are, and what we have done, but 
owing to other and very different reasons. 

In worldly debts there are special exemptions, which do 
not exist in our obligations to God. A creditor, for in- 

II. SER. 11 



122 FORESHADOWS. 

stance, cannot arrest a peer of the realm ; but there is no 
such privilege at the judgment-seat. Peer and peasant are 
equally guilty before God, and each must pay the penalty, 
and suffer the inexhaustible issues of transgression of the 
law of God, or find sovereign remission. 

Debtors here may be seized; but the body alone can be 
cast into prison; the soul may be neither reached, nor fet- 
tered, nor chained. But God deals primarily with the soul. 
''Be not afraid," then, ''of them that kill the body, and 
after that have no more that they can do. But fear him, 
which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell.'' 
It is the soul that suffers. The one is but temporary bond- 
age, the other is an irretrievable perdition. 

A debtor to man may abscond and escape, rfot so a debtor 
to God. " If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. 
If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the utter- 
most parts of the sea ; even there shall thy hand lead me, 
and thy right hand shall hold me." There is no resistance 
of omnipotence ; there is no escape from omnipresence. 

It is a symptom of conscious guilt when a debtor refuses 
to look into his pecuniary affairs. This is the painful cha- 
racteristic of a sinner. He flies from himself. He is con- 
scious that there is something wrong within him ; he shrinks 
from the thought of Deity coming into his mind ; he labours 
to get rid of all communion with God above him, and with 
his heart within him. It would be intolerable punishment to 
have his thoughts concentrated on himself for a single day. 
He will neither eject nor look at the lodger that is within 
him. No man will look his sin fairly in the face who is 
not determined to abandon it, and who does not know of 
some great and blessed process by which the past may be 
cancelled. 

Nor does a debtor like to be reminded of his debts. It 



THE FRUIT OF FORGIVENESS. 123 

is so with sinners. They that are bent on the practice of 
sin will not long listen to faithful preaching. They say, 
substantially, with Ahab, '' I will not listen to him. He 
prophesies evil concerning me." 

Still less do debtors like to meet their creditors. This 
is emphatically the case of sinners in reference to God. 
" Depart from us ; Ave are sinful men," is their language : 
'^no God," is their practical creed. Like Adam, the con- 
sciousness of sin makes them run from God. 

Let us rejoice to know that God, the great Creditor, for- 
gives freely, fully, and frankly all that come to him. The 
source and fountain of mercy is*in God. This love was 
not created by the atonement, but is the cause out of which 
the atonement came. Jesus is the expression and the 
channel of God's love, not the creator of it. His mercy, 
however, must reach us in a way consistent with the justice 
and the holiness of God. If no sin were pardoned, there 
would be no evidence of the mercy of God. If all sin 
were forgiven Avithout an atonement, there Avould be no 
evidence of the holiness and justice of God. In Christ Ave 
have redemption through his blood ; and God is there seen 
to be faithful and just, while he justifies them that believe 
in Jesus. 

The very first characteristic of this love is, that it is 
worthy of God. Man is irritable, revengeful, and stands 
out against forgiving those that have offended him, unable 
to forget the greatness or the aggravation of the sin : but 
God alike forgiA^es the greatest and the least sins : for 
" my Avays are not your Avays, neither are my thoughts 
your thoughts." <' Though your sins be as scarlet, they 
shall be as Avhite as snow ; though they be red like crimson, 
tliey shall be as avooI." God's forgiveness extends to all 
sin : " Who forgivcth all thine iniquities." " The blood of 



124 FORESHADOWS. 

Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth from all sin." Again, 
'<- Having forgiven you all your trespasses." And so truly 
is this the characteristic of the forgiveness of God, that 
the sinner may plead with the Psalmist, ^^ Pardon my ini- 
quity ; for it is great." Sin may rise to the height of the 
everlasting hills, but mercy surmounts it ; or it may sink 
to the depths of the fathomless sea, but mercy pursues and 
overtakes and pardons there. 

This forgiveness of God is unchangeable and irreversible. 
The gifts and calling of God are without repentance. He 
blots out our sins, and lest they should be seen, he covers 
them. And to show how completely he does so, it is said, 
^^He casts them behind his back;" and, lest this should 
not be expressive enough, he is said to fling them into the 
depths of the sea ; and, lest this should not be expressive 
enough, he says, '' Their sins shall be sought, and shall not 
be found." 

And lastly, this mercy is free and unmerited. We can 
neither merit it before we receive it, nor pay for it after 
we have received it. It is sovereign, worthy of God, and 
the only mercy that can reach the hearts and carry away 
the guilt of his sinful family. 

The fruit of this forgiveness is love in us. The appeal 
is made to the experience of human nature, when it is 
stated, ^' We love him, because he first loved us." Love 
to us on the part of God creates responsive love to God 
on our part. This is just the great process of the gospel, 
on which reliance is placed for reclaiming, regenerating, 
and saving multitudes of sinners. And when this love is 
fixed in the heart by the Holy Spirit of God, responsive 
to the love that God has manifested to us, it becomes the 
life and strength of all obedience. Love is the fulfilling 
of the law. The law is love in its outward development, 



THE FRUIT OF FORGIVENESS. 125 

and love is the law in its inward life and principle. "Wlicr- 
ever, therefore, the love of God in Christ Jesus is preached 
in its greatest fulness, there we may expect that there will 
be the truest allegiance, and the most lasting obedience to 
God. The air of the future glory is the love that results 
from forgiveness of sin. Love within us is the germ of 
glory. Our happiest moments are prefigurations of the 
future. 



11* 



126 



LECTURE VIII. 



CERTAIN PROGRESS. 



And again he said, Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God? It is like 
leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole 
was leavened. — Luke xiii. 20, 21. 

There are different aspects in wHch tlie kingdom of 
heaven is set before us. In one parable it has a mixed 
character, as a visible body made up of tares and wheat, 
bad and good fishes. In another we are presented with 
the aspect of its outward development, as the mustard- 
tree. In the present, its inward; penetrating, and secret 
action in the world, under the representation of leaven, is 
set before us. The only difficulty in this parable is the 
use of leaven in its figurative character. Generally it is 
used in a bad sense, as in 1 Cor. v. 7: ^^ Purge out there- 
fore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are 
unleavened." The Israelites were to put away all leaven 
during the passover. It has been interpreted by some in 
an evil sense ; and under the name of leaven, it is thought 
by such interpreters that the Romish element secretly in- 
fecting the early church, and spreading with pestiferous 
power till the whole church was contaminated and cor- 
rupted by it, is the master idea of this parable. Were 
this interpretation correct, it would imply a universal 
apostasy, the utter extinction of the church of Christ, and 
the evidence that the gates of hell, contrary to the pro- 
mise of our Lord, had actually prevailed against it. Be- 
sides, the representation implies on the part of our Lord 



CERTAIN PROGRESS. 127 

satisfaction, and not sorrow, at tlio progress of the leaven. 
We think there is yet a satisfactory solution. In tlie 
Scripture, and in parables, every minor quality of tlie 
symbol is not necessarily implied : its great and prominent 
characteristic is that which is seized, and made the elo- 
quent and expressive vehicle of a great truth. Thus, the 
mustard-tree rising from a small beginning to a great 
size, is the only feature that is laid hold of in the pa- 
rable in which it occurs, while the pungency, or acrid 
properties of the mustard are entirely excluded. The 
lion is applied to Satan, and also to Jesus, but in distinc- 
tive senses. So, the leaven may be applied to that which 
is evil, and also in its place to that which is good ; but in 
its good application, its penetrative, assimilating, and 
spreading energies are alone regarded, while its souring 
and disturbing effects are utterly excluded, or superseded. 
The manifest scope and jtendency of the parable should 
always guide us in the interpretation of it. 

The leaven is used, probably, as a symbol of missionary 
and aggressive action. Hence, the true church, called 
^'tlie Bride," and ''the Lamb's w^ife," and ''the woman 
driven into the w^ilderness," never failed to spread around 
her some degree of holy influence. This at least is cer- 
tain, it is Christians alone who are the only missionaries, 
who propagate with silent, but penetrating force, the holy 
influence of the gospel of Christ. It is the saints alone 
that are the servants of God. It is they who are leavened 
themselves with the great principles of life and light and 
truth, who go forth and successfully leaven others, and will 
not cease till the whole earth shall be penetrated with the 
sanctifying and sweetening power of the gospel of Christ. 
This is beautifully exhibited in Psalm Ixvii. : " God be mer- 
ciful unto us, and bless us ; and cause his face to shine 
upon us. That thy way may be known upon earth, thy 



128 ' FORESHADOWS. 

saving health among all nations." It is implied in ^'Go 
ye, and preach the gospel to every creature." It is also 
indicated in the metaphors under which Christians are 
represented : — the light, that gradually illuminates ; the 
salt, that silently spreads its savour; the leaven, that 
silently penetrates with its assimilating influence, till all 
is pervaded by it. 

Leaven, referred to in the parable, is an element differ- 
ent from the lump or the society into which it is introduced. 
Now, this is just the nature, origin, and characteristic ac- 
tion of the gospel of Christ. It is not an earthly element 
neutralizing or dislodging a rival, and thus attaining an 
ultimate supremacy. It is not an influence created or 
excited by man, rallying and gathering to itself the last 
surviving virtues that beautify the wreck, and prevent the 
utter ruin of the social system. It is not a mission from 
the world, or of it. It is not machinery manufactured by 
philosophy, or by human genius. It is no earthly mo- 
mentum. It is a divine element coming down from heaven, 
not earthly or of the earth, and lodged in the heart of 
humanity. It is a virtue from the actual presence of Deity 
coming directly down upon the earth, a vital, quickening, 
inextinguishable element directed by the Holy Spirit, de- 
posited in the bosom of some, who make it known to others 
who are strangers to it. It begins in a nook, and goes 
forth in silence and secrecy, assimilating the earth to 
heaven, and men to God, and out of great nations educing 
the churches of Christ. 

This leaven once introduced, we perceive from the para- 
ble, must make progress. It absorbs alien elements into 
its own — transmuting all it touches into the likeness of the 
source from which it came. It attracts to itself whatever 
is foreign to it, and makes it what God has designed it to 
be. Thus Christianity has made progress in every land. 



CERTAIN TROGRESS. 129 

Grace planted in the core of the individual heart, has ra- 
diated and spread, leavening families, then villages, then 
towns, then cities, then the greatest empire, till Rome, in 
the history of the past, awoke and Avith astonishment dis- 
covered that the majority of its people was Christian. 
Differences of class, custom, language, have no observable 
influence upon it, nor do they present any obstruction to 
its spread. It leavened the philosophic Greek, the warlike 
Roman, the bigoted Jew, the wandering Arab, the pliant 
Persian, the superstitious Hindoo. No peculiarity of caste, 
or tribe, or climate arrested its progress. It created Chris- 
tians wherever it came, and it shot forth in all the beauti- 
ful crystallization of Christian character wherever its 
power was allowed to penetrate. Temples have risen 
amid Greenland snows and Russian winters, amid burning 
sands and under Indian suns. Its influence has spanned 
gulfs and firths, climbed the Alps, Apennines, and Hima- 
layas ; crossed broad seas, and traversed bleak deserts, 
and left its trophies everywhere. It seized and trans- 
formed and leavened humanity wherever it came. Great 
intellects bowed before the truth, and humble minds felt 
elevated by it. Prejudices fled, like morning mists, at its 
approach, and fierce passions were laid like waves after the 
storm, and idol shrines and temples were transmuted into 
the churches of Christ. But this Christian element is not 
only fitted to leaven all classes and climes, but also every 
power and faculty and afi^ection in the individual bosom. 
It touches every organ of the inner man, penetrates every 
recess of the human breast, illuminates the mind with hea- 
venly light, inspires the heart with divine grace, kindling 
divine sympathies, and extending outward throughout the 
whole man, till his estate, his time, his influence, and all 
he has, and all he is, are baptized with a celestial baptism, 
and consecrated to the service and glory of Him who re- 



130 FORESHADOWS. 

deemed him by his blood, and has made him a king and a 
priest unto his Father. 

We see, next, the remarkable silence of its operation, 
which is thus a contrast, to the operation of other elements. 
The religion of Mohammed was spread by the scimiter, sus- 
tained by armies, accompanied by conquest, and in every 
instance the creation of compulsion : it was an influence 
from Avithout shaping society, as the axe does the tree, into 
the form selected by its owner. Romanism is scarcely 
less so. Fraud, and force, and lying wonders, and empty 
pomp, and meretricious splendour, secure an outward uni- 
formity, marshalling millions in ceremonial unity and 
order, but all ever ready to fall asunder on the withdrawal 
of the compressive power, or the destruction of the coer- 
cive bond, before which they bow. But in this case it is 
far otherwise ; the action begins in the individual heart, 
and secretly, silently, but powerfully, and without force, 
or fraud, or noise, it spreads, till the whole nature is pene- 
trated by its influence, and assimilated to a new character. 
It is silent as the dew of heaven, but as saturating also. 
Like a sweet stream, it runs along many a mile in silent 
beauty. You may trace its course, not by roaring cata- 
racts, and rolling boulders, and rent rocks, but by the belt 
of verdure, greenness, and fertility, ^that extends along 
its margin. The fact is, all great forces are silent ; 
strength is quiet : all great things are still : high brows 
are calm. It is the vulgar idea, that thunder and light- 
ning are the mightiest forces, because they are the most 
audible. Gravitation, which is unseen and unheard, binds 
suns and stars into harmony, and puts forth a force vastly 
greater than that of the lightning. The light, which 
comes so silently that it does not injure an infant's eye, 
makes the whole earth burst into buds and blossoms, and 
yet it is not heard. Thus, love and truth, the component 



CERTAIN PROGRESS. 1^1 

elements of the gospel leaven, are silent, but mighty in 
their action, mightier far than hate and persecution, and 
bribes and falsehoods, and sword and musket. Souls are 
won, not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith 
the Lord of hosts. 

This leaven is described as hidden. Such was the con- 
dition of Jesus, the Son of God. He had no form nor 
comeliness ; he was despised and rejected of men ; but in 
the end he shall divide the spoil with the strong. So it 
is with ourselves. Our life is hid with Christ in God. 
Men do not see the action of this holy leaven ; they only 
feel the effects of it. " The wind bloweth where it listeth, 
and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell 
whence it cometh, and whither it goeth ; so is every one 
that is born of the Spirit." Worldly schemes and plans 
are carried on by the sound of the hammer and the axe, 
amid smoke and noise ; but here, as in the building of the 
ancient temple, there is heard no sound of axe or hammer. 
This revolution, achieved by the Christian leaven, is not 
the result of commotion ; it is rather like a seed quicken- 
ing in the heart in secret and in silence, and developing 
itself ultimately in the peace, and joy, and righteousness 
of the kingdom of heaven. 

Another peculiarity of this holy leaven is, that it is a 
central influence working outward to the circumference. 
In this respect it is a perfect contrast to all the prescrip- 
tions of the age. It is not a scheme for manufacturing, 
spinning, or weaving happiness, such as most national revo- 
lutions and reforms are, but a principle divinely implanted, 
silently penetrating outward, and shaping every thing to 
itself. Man's schemes act from without; God's religion from 
within. Human schemes rely on a revolution in the state ; 
Christianity on a revolution in the heart. The first begin 
at the circumference, and try to work inward toward the 



132 FORESHADOWS. 

centre. The second begins at the centre, and works out- 
ward to the circumference. All human schemes propose 
to give us what we have not; the divine scheme seeks to 
make us what we are not. Man's proposition is to alter 
the climate ; it is God's to change the heart. The king- 
dom of God is not "meat and drink" — something from 
without ; but " righteousness, and peace, and joy," planted 
within, and developing itself ultimately without. It is 
the good tree yielding the good fruit ; the pure spring 
sending up a pure stream. In this very characteristic is 
the secret of the unheard, but not unfelt, influence of the 
gospel of Christ. The force that spreads it is not so much 
eloquence on the tongue, as Christianity in the heart. It 
depends, not so much on beautiful speeches, as on visible 
love, and audible holiness. The beating of the heart heard 
in the expression of the lip is powerful. In short, the 
most effective way to do good is to be good. If God be 
loved in the heart, it will surely show itself in the life. 
It was so pre-eminently with Jesus. It was not his 
miracles, nor his words, nor his doctrines, that so struck 
the multitude ; but Christ himself. It was the grandeur 
of his personal character — humanity visibly the organ of 
Deity — the undoubted image of the living God, that awed 
and subdued. This fact was power. Never man spake, 
or did, or lived, or died like this man, because never man 
was as this man. Thus, be Christians, and you cannot 
help being missionaries. Be luminous, and you cannot but 
shine. If you have leaven within, you will be sure in 
light and love to leaven all that is around you. It is not 
our voluntary and designed efforts, but our involuntary 
and unconscious influence, that operates most efi*ectually. 
It is what we are, not what we arrange, digest, and plan, 
that goes forth armed with the greatest power. Benevolence 
within is sure to write itself in beneficence without. The 



CERTAIN TROGRESS. 133 

heart of Christian love will ever be followed by the hand 
of Christian goodness. It is the holy leaven of heavenly 
love within the man that breaks through every mask, and 
beats dawn every obstruction, and penetrates every refuge, 
and portrays itself legibly without. It is noticed, though 
it does not proclaim itself, and felt by the rest of man- 
kind, and it strikes a permanent and contagious infl. . .. 
upon families, on villages, on towns, on the wide world. 
A city congregation of real Christians is the noblest city 
mission : all else is a mere substitute for ourselves, or a 
supply for our own defects. 

This leaven penetrated till the whole mass was leavened. 
This does not imply that every man born on the earth will 
be leavened by the gospel, and thus that all will be Chris- 
tians and ultimately saved. Our present experience is 
against this. Half of a generation is leavened, and the 
other half is not: this is our present experience : it is his- 
torical and actual fact. But a time does come, when the 
whole living generation existing on the earth shall emerge 
from its corruption, and from the rising to the setting of 
the sun, incense and a pure offering shall be made to God, 
and the whole earth shall be filled with the knowledge and 
the glory of Grod, and the number of God's people shall 
be complete, and the sons of God shall be manifested, and 
the groans of earth shall cease, and there shall be one 
Lord, and his name one. 

If we have within us the leaven of the gospel ourselves, 
— and it is not so difiicult to determine whether we have 
it, or are absolute strangers to it, — we shall seek, as I 
have said, to spread a sacred influence upon all around us. 
No force of evil, no momentary failure or resistance, will 
discourage us. There may be want of success for a season, 
there may be increasing unbelief and accumulating evil ; yet 
our duty remains, and our delight to discharge it will be un- 

n. sER. 12 



184 FORESHADOWS, 

impaired. As to the subduing influence of this holy leaven, 
centuries crowd around us to bear witness of the past, and 
prove that wretchedness and haggard misery and sin have 
fled before the influence of the leaven planted by the Spirit 
of God in the hearts of the few. Let us labour especially to 
uVx?.^'^n the young. Let us pray that this leaven may be 
- * '-' A in the hearts of the teachers of our schools, and 
that the Spirit of God may hide it in every child's heart. 
The children of to-day are the good seed of the future 
ages, that will grow up into glorious harvests, or the trains 
of gunpowder lodged in subterranean mines, that will 
explode and devastate the earth. To train up a child in 
the way he should go, is the highest and most instant of 
all duties ; and he cannot have felt the leavening influence 
of the gospel in his heart, who feels careless or indifi*erent 
to so momentous a duty. 

Thus ultimate success in the coming future is the pre- 
figuration of the parable. Our labour is not in vain ; we 
have the earnest of success within us, and the certainty of 
a glorious future before us. 



135 



LECTURE IX. 

THE FUTURE SEPARATIOK. 



Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven ia 
likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field : but while men slept, 
his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But 
when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares 
also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst 
not thou sow good seed in thy field ? from whence then hath it tares ? He said 
unto them. An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, AVilt thou 
then that we go and gather them up ? But he said. Nay -, lest while ye gather 
up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together 
until the harvest : and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers. Gather 
ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them : but gather 

the wheat into my barn Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and 

went into the house : and his disciples came unto him, saying. Declare unto 
us the parable of the tares of the field. He answered and said unto them, 
He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man ; the field is the world; the 
good seed are the children of the kingdom ; but the tares are the children of 
the wicked one; the enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the 
end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares 
are gathered and burned in the fire ; so shall it be in the end of this world. 
The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of 
his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall 
cast them into a furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of 
teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of 
their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. — Matt. xiii. 24-30, 
and 36-43. 

''The Son of man," is the lowly and beautiful epithet 
which Jesus appropriates for himself. He is indeed the 
only perfect Man, the realization of the original idea of man- 
hood, the only spotless, beautiful, and perfect flower that the 
soul of humanity ever developed. But, while he was the Son 
of man, and thus the perfect Man, he was no less truly 
the Son of God. The one was witnessed in his tears, and 



136 FORESHADOWS. 

sorrows, and sufferings, and death. The other was mani- 
fested by his miracles, his words, his attributes, his victo- 
ries, his ascension. 

The seed here are not truths in their separate form, but 
truths incorporated and embodied in living and respon- 
sible men, — the seed in its development, — in short, living 
principle in beautiful and consistent practice. Thus Jere- 
miah speaks of sowing with men as with seed. So, in 
Hosea ii. 23, ^^I will sow her." Likewise, in Zechariah 
X. 9, " I will sow them among the people.'' The seed 
does not remain after the tree has grown ; it becomes the 
stem, and unfolds its power and properties in the living 
branches. 

This seed was sown by the Son of man in his ^^ field." 
This field is not the world, but plainly the visible church. 
It was the world before the seed was sown, — the outfield in 
which no preparatory process had been begun ; but, on being 
ploughed, and cultivated, and hedged in, and sown, that 
part of the world became the separated district, the se- 
questered and consecrated place — in short, what we call 
the visible church. This is plain from the very nature of 
the description contained in the parable ; for it is nothing 
new to discover that good and bad are in the world, nor 
the possibility of a desire to root out the bad and separate 
them from the good at all inconceivable to any who have 
watched the world's plans of self-regeneration ; but it is 
a new and striking announcement, and to some an incre- 
dible one, that in the visible church there should be a 
mixed multitude, — tares, and wheat; that the weeds of 
earth should mingle with the flowers of paradise, and the 
poisonous plants of the Fall with the fragrant and beau- 
tiful productions of the kingdom of grace. 

The enemy that sowed the tares is said to be ^'the 
devil." Satan, in this as in other things, always imitates 



THE FUTURE SEPARATION. 137 

and counterworks the mission of Christ. Wherever tlierc 
is any clear manifestation of Christ, there Satan inva- 
riably sets up a corresponding imitation and mimicry. He 
imitated the miracles of Moses in rapid succession ; and 
he raised up lying prophets, the mimics of the true, ever 
as the former appeared ; he imitated the incarnation by 
demoniacal possessions. He is most successful, not as an 
undisguised enemy, but as a pretended friend, or when 
he combines the voice of Jacob with the hands of Esau, 
the brass of Ca3sar with the superscription of Christ, 
sowing the evil where the good has been previously sown ; 
confounding light and darkness, good and evil; busiest 
where Christ is, and concentrating his greatest efforts to 
corrupt just where there is witnessed the greatest proof of 
the presence and the blessing of God. Satan is exhibited 
in this parable as a person. He is not, as the skeptic 
alleges, a mere metaphor ; the parable itself is the meta- 
phor, the explanation of it here given is strictly and his- 
torically literal. Every thing predicated of him evidences 
personality. He entered into Judas : he filled the heart 
of Ananias ; he is the god of this w^orld, blinding the 
eyes of them that believe not; he is ^^the spirit that 
worketh in the children of disobedience." All these ex- 
pressions denote an active and aggressive person; they 
cannot be predicated of a mere influence. In the Apoca- 
lypse, there is a full description of the awful part that 
Satan plays in counterworking the gospel, and in the 
winding up of this world's great and stirring drama. 

He sowed " tares" in the field. The tare is not a plant 
totally different from the w^heat, and so easily distinguish- 
able from it, but a sort of degenerated wheat — in short, a 
bastard and spurious wheat. It is well known that the 
uncultivated vine brings forth inferior grapes ; and the 
best and purest wheat is spoken of as degenerating into a 

12^ 



138 FOUESHADOWS. 

sort of inferior wheat, called '^ tares." The wheat and 
tares were, then, essentially the same. Thus, the sinner 
is not a being different from the saint : both were originally 
pure in Adam ; but in one there is the taint of sin, in the 
other there is the effect of grace. God remakes the one ; 
Satan and sin marred and made the other. Satan does 
not create the children of darkness a new race ; he wastes, 
and stains, and defaces merely what God originally made 
pure. The worst of men may be converted : Satan never 
can be. There is no depth in the deepest degradation to 
which man can fall, out of which he may not be extricated. 
The tare, so long as it is so, is the planting of the wicked 
one. "I never knew you," is the language of Jesus ad- 
dressed to those who are represented here by the tares. 
The wheat is the sowing of God. 

The time in which the tares were sown, was the night- 
time, while men slept. This perhaps denotes that during 
the apathy and indolence of the rulers of the church, 
Satan has sown or scattered wicked ones in the midst of 
it. 2 Peter ii. 1: '^But there were false prophets also 
among the people, even as there shall be false teachers 
among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, 
even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon 
themselves swift destruction." Or it may denote no cen- 
sure upon any, but that during the necessary sleep that 
all must have, Satan seized the opportunity, and sowed 
broadcast the seed of a crop of tares. His deeds are evil, 
and the darkness is their congenial element. We often 
meet with this question : If transubstantiation or purga- 
tory be an error, show when and where the error was 
introduced. If you cannot show when and where, then 
you must accept those dogmas as true. This is false 
reasoning. It is not a question of chronology, but a 
question of truth. Those tares — transubstantiation and 



THE FUTURE SEPARATION. ]:]0 

purgatory — were sown in the midnight of the medieval 
ages; and we reject them, just because they indicate, in 
their full development, that they are no part of and con- 
trary to the good wheat originally sown in the field. 

He then went his way. After he had sown the tares, 
no subsequent or superintending care was required. The 
unsanctified human heart is the congenial soil for them. 
Graces are not natural to it ; but sin and error are in- 
digenous plants : they luxuriate if left alone, till they multi- 
ply into a far-stretching, portentous, and antichristian 
apostasy. Satan knew the soil, and how rapidly the seeds 
of evil would grow, if only placed in it. Errors are like 
weeds. Left alone they grow. The diiBculty is to prevent 
their growth. The difference between the tares and wheat 
appeared only in their maturity. The likeness was so 
entire during the early progress, that there was no marked 
distinction. Our eyes are not able justly to discriminate. 
The wicked do wonderful works. They can array them- 
selves in the likeness of Christ. The harvest, however, 
tests the plant, and reveals its real genus. The portrait 
is often more beautiful than the original. The tare at its 
first shooting appeared greener, and probably more vigor- 
ous, than the wheat ; and perhaps an unaccustomed eye 
would say that the tares were the most precious and pro- 
mising of the two. In every congregation there may be 
more Christians than many allow, and fewer than latitudi- 
narians believe. We are not now the reapers, but the 
seedsmen of Christ. It is not for us to predict with 
infallible precision, or to separate with truthful accuracy, 
which we cannot ; but to sow the seed, and to pray for the 
sunbeams and the rain to warm and to water it. There is 
less hazard in forbearance, than in attempting to separate. 

In verse 27, it is asked, " Didst not thou sow good seed 
in the field? from whence then hath it tares ?" Lord, wo 



140 FORESHADOWS. 

have read the glowing portrait of thy church, as if it were 
said, i^the Bride," ^' the Lamb's wife," "the living 
stones," "the fruitful trees," "the glorious church, not 
having spot." What means, then, this awful and repres- 
sive mixture ? these poisonous plants in the midst of it ? 
So we naturally exclaim as we read the church's history. 
The clear stream that flowed out of the rock, has become 
contaminated with polluting water; the truth has been 
mixed with alien falsehood, the gold vfith alloy, till the 
fine gold has become dim, and the most fine gold is alto- 
gether changed. The answer to this perplexity is, "An 
enemy hath done this." It is not the decree of God that 
doomed the one while he accepted the other. It is not 
that cold sunbeams, or that little rains, or that partial care 
have been bestowed on one and not on the other, nor is it 
the imperfection incident to all ; it is an enemy that hath 
done it. Evil is an interpolation from below ; good and 
benediction, from above. We are not to blame Chris- 
tianity for the tares, but to give it only the glory of the 
wheat. It is no more fair to blame our religion for 
hypocrisy, than it is to blame patriotism for traitors, or 
the mint for forgers. Sin is the trail of the serpent. 
There is no explaining away the responsibility of man, nor 
the existence and activity of Satan. The enemy of God 
and man does all the evil : God is the Author of all that 
is pure and holy, benevolent and good. 

"Wilt thou that we go and gather up the tares ?" one 
asks in the parable. This is the expression of sincere, 
but ignorant zeal. Yet it has occurred in the nineteenth 
century, as it occurred in the first century. Many would 
try to strike out a perfect church on earth. There is no 
such thing as a free and perfect communion upon earth ; 
and where the greatest efforts have been made to produce 
it, if sincere and pure, they have ended in failure ; if sin- 



THE FUTURE SEPARATION. Ml 

ful and sectarian, they have been developed in sin and 
confusion. Either in attempts to root up tares we have 
brought up and injured wheat, that is, we have excluded 
from the means of grace a sinner that might have been 
converted ; or, in the rashness of a burning zeal, we have 
torn up the wheat instead of or along with the tares. In 
what awful opposition to the requirement and the express 
will of our Redeemer, is the Romish Church ! She has 
quoted this very passage as sanctioning the extermination 
of heretics, if there be in the execution of her decrees no 
chance of injuring the faithful ; but the result in her 
history has been, that she has parted in her persecution 
with the only wheat, and preserved only the tares. The 
fact is, that the advocate of truth has no commission to 
exterminate the victim of error. In a Christian it is a 
sinful act to persecute, and in another it is an impolitic 
one. Besides, in either case, we have no authority or 
commission to warrant us to make a separation, where 
none is to be made in this dispensation. This, however, 
does not imply the condemnation of Christian and scrip- 
tural ecclesiastical discipline. Such discipline is most 
valuable. The admonition of the sinful, the excision from 
the visible church of the flagrantly wicked and profane, is 
a sacred obligation, alike dutiful to Christ and salutary to 
all. But yet it is safer to trust more to the faithful and 
discriminating preaching of the truth, than to ecclesiastical 
censures, while it is unwise to have recourse to or to trust 
in political proscription. "Let both grow together till 
the harvest," is the true, and therefore the charitable pre- 
scription. Sinners and saints, antichristians and Chris- 
tians, will grow together intermingling till the very end. 
We cannot help it. I believe that the pure and the holy 
on the one side, constituting the people of God, and the 
tares, or unholy and the unbelieving, on the other side, 



142 FORESHADOWS. 

constituting the people of antichrist, will develop their 
respective characteristics in more portentous magnitude as 
the end draws near; but separated in this dispensation 
they will not be. All principles, good and evil, are grow- 
ing in earnestness of feeling, and becoming charged with 
greater power and intensity ; so that when Christ comes, 
there will be found only two classes — one intensely evil, 
the other intensely and truly Christian. This implies that 
the world is not to be gradually converted by the existing 
means of grace. The visible church we see will be a 
mixture of tares and wheat till the end. These will grow 
together till the ^^'^^ <^ /jJUwv arrive. Christ will come to 
a world, not holy and beautiful and pure, but to a world in 
which the tares and wheat will be growing together, co- 
existent but strongly marked. This does not prove that 
we are to lay aside means for the conversion of all that 
are near us ; but it presents us a foreshadow of the future 
most fitted to present bur being discouraged in the 
arduous and often unpromising work committed to our 
hands. 

He will send his angels to do it. So unsuitable to us is 
this work of separating now, that we shall not be allowed 
to make the separation at the end. It does not become 
us. Ours is a more merciful function. Angels are the 
reapers. ''The Son of man shall come in the glory of his 
Father with his holy angels." ^^The Lord Jesus shall be 
revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming 
fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God." 
" The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, 
with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of 
Grod." The destruction of the unbelieving and the uncon- 
verted will first occur. This is clearly indicated in 2 Peter 
iii. 3, 10: '^ Knowing this first, that there shall come in the 
last days scoffers walking after their own lusts, and say- 



THE FUTURE SEPARATION. 143 

ing, Where is the promise of his coming? for since tlic 
fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from 
the beginning of the creation. . . . But the clay of the Lord 
will come as a thief in the night ; in the which the heavens 
shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall 
melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that 
are therein shall be burned up/' So in 2 Thessalonians ii., 
antichrist will reach his culminating greatness, and be 
rooted up only in his full strength and pride by Christ 
personally appearing. Then, next will occur the mani- 
festation and the glory of the sons of God. The tares shall 
be rooted out, removed, and cast into everlasting fire. 
The wheat will not be removed : it will remain in greater 
purity, and shine forth in richer magnificence and beauty, 
in the field in which it was sown. The scene of their pro- 
gress will be the scene of their manifestation. According 
to Romans viii. 18, the sons of God will emerge from the 
chaos and confusion under which they are buried in this 
world. Their life, now hid with Christ in God, shall be 
unvailed ; the shadow that eclipses them shall be rolled off, 
and the glory of heaven breaking out shall cover the whole 
earth, and what is written in Daniel xii. 3 shall be ful- 
filled: ^'And they that be wise shall shine as the bright- 
ness of the firmament ; and they that turn many to righte- 
ousness as stars for ever and ever." This shall be literally 
brought to pass. 

Christ's true church and the visible church are not co- 
extensive, or to be confounded, the one with the other. 
All the man-baptized are not the God-baptized. The worst 
of errors originates from identifying the two. Assume the 
vissible church, i, e. the tares and the wheat, to be the 
true church, the company of the regenerate, and then apply 
to it, as you may justly, if it be so, the glorious endoAV- 
ments and attributes of the inner and the spiritual church, 



144 FORESHADOWS. 

and there will soon shoot up in prominent development a 
gigantic antichristian corporation. To say that the sen- 
tence of a bishop, or the decision of a presbytery, is ac- 
tually the mind of Christ, and that to deny it is to cast off 
Christ's headship, is one of those germinating principles 
of Romanism, which are perilous in proportion to their 
plausibility and the piety of those men who espouse them. 

We are one or the other — wheat or tares. There are 
many distinctions in the world, there are many sects and 
parties ; but, disguise it as we may, there are only two 
real and Jasting classes of mankind, beyond whom all other 
distinctions are extrinsic, outward, perishing. Either 
among the tares or wheat we are. Sheep or goats, wise 
or foolish virgins, with or without a wedding garment, each 
one of us stands before God this day. 

In the next place, there shall be here, we learn, ever- 
lasting separation. Children shall be severed from their 
parents, wives from their husbands ; and that separation 
shall last for ever and ever. The tares shall be bound in 
bundles ; the lost shall be united into one, and their union 
shall only aggravate their curse. The wheat shall also bo 
collected togjether. All from Adam to Abraham, and from 
Abraham to tl^e end of the world, who belong to the church 
of Christ, will stand together, and constitute one holy, and 
happy, and blessed household. 

The whole parable is suggestive of duties in the day that 
now is, and vividly prefigurative of that solemn day that 
is soon to be. It is a foreshadow of it. We may form an 
anticipation of it, by studying the outlines of the parable 
of the tares and wheat. At that day, when so severe a 
separation shall occur, Christ, number us with thy saints 
in glory everlasting ! 



115 



LECTURE X. 

THE RICH FOOL. 

And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man 
brought forth plentifully : and he thought within himself, saying, What shall 
I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits ? And he said. 
This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there 
■will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to m^soul. Soul, 
thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, 
and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall 
be required of thee : then whose shall those things be, which thou hast pro- 
vided ? So is ho that lay&th up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward 
God.— Luke xii. 16-21. 

It appears from the previous portion of the chapter 
from which these words are taken, that our Lord had been 
inculcating upon his followers the duty and the privilege 
of perfect confidence in the love, the wisdom, the provi- 
dential arrangements of their Father in heaven. It ap- 
pears, however, that in the midst of this discourse, so 
beautiful and so instructive — a discourse which he resumes 
almost immediately after uttering the parable — some one 
approached him with this requirement, "Master, speak to 
my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me." Our 
Lord refused to be. a divider, called upon him, and all who 
sympathized with him, to beware of covetousness, and then 
he related the important and instructive parable which we 
have just read. Now the sin of this man, who approached 
our Lord with this request, is not stated to have been his 
asking him to divide the inheritance. There was no sin 
in desiring, as far as circumstances permitted it, his right. 
And if half the inheritance belonged to him, or was be- 

II. SER. 13 



146 FORESHADOWS. 

queathed to him by a legal and j^roper will, it was his duty, 
as it was his right, to require that half. His ^in, there- 
fore, lay not in asking for his rights, but in interrupting a 
discourse so precious, so beautiful, so instructive to the 
multitude, with a petition, purely, intensely, and exclu- 
sively selfish. It was, in other words, saying practically 
to our Lord, ^'I have no time to think about my soul. I 
have no confidence in these the providential arrangements 
of heaven. I have a matter of my own — a load that lies 
heavy on my heart, and it is the only subject that I feel 
to be mighty and important. And if all the world should 
want light, what do I care ? if all the souls of all the mul- 
titude around thee should die without a Saviour, what is 
that to me ? my great object is to get half of the inherit- 
ance. Do stop from teaching them the way to heaven, 
and act as a divider of the inheritance between me and 
my brother." One can see that such conduct indicated 
the intensest selfishness ; a care for his own little want so 
great as to show that his heart was in the world, and an 
insensibility to the wants of others, that proved he cared 
nothing for the kingdom and the things of God. When 
he made this request, we read that our Lord refused to be 
a divider. In other words, he acted upon this occasion as 
he had acted throughout his glorious biography, as a re- 
former of principles, a purifier of hearts, not a distributer 
anew of the mechanical and civil arrangements of society. 
Our Lord came to change men's hearts, not their circum- 
stances, or to change their circumstances by first changing 
and ameliorating their hearts. He came not to interfere 
with the laws, or the arrangements, or the polity, or the 
supremacy of Caesar ; but to implant in men's souls living 
truths, living principles, which should germinate and grow 
until the whole world should be overspread with that king- 
dom whose great elements are righteousness, peace, and 



THE RICH FOOL. 147 

joy; and the kingdoms of this world should become the 
kingdoms of our Lord, not by force, nor by fraud, but by 
the living influence of righteousness, and purity, and holi- 
ness, and truth. So in this our Lord exhibited himself as 
a very different reformer from those that assume the name 
in the various countries of the world. They begin at cir- 
cumstances, they have forgotten the heart. They say, 
except your condition be changed, you never can be happy. 
Our Lord says, except a man's heart be changed, and he 
be born again, he never can see or enter the kingdom of 
God. They, like empirics, would change the bed ; lie, 
like the great Physician, Avould heal the patient. Our 
Lord, after he had made this refusal to be a divider between 
men, gives a warning, and a very solemn one, against 
covetousness. ^' Take heed and beware of covetousness, 
for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the 
things that he hath." What is covetousness ? Everybody 
thinks everybody covetous but himself. It is the last impu- 
tation that a man will admit. Covetousness is not the 
desire of money. I cannot see any thing sinful in desiring 
an addition to one's income, or an improvement in one's 
property, in dutiful and Christian submission to the will, 
the sovereignty, and the good pleasure of God. Money is 
a power that represents a thousand things. A sovereign is 
shoes for a missionary, a staff for an invalid, a passage for 
a Bible, compressed into a little circle of less than an inch 
diameter, portable, and easily bestowed or exchanged. 

Money therefore is in itself a good thing, and there is 
nothing said in the Bible against having money; nay, it is 
not unchristian to be rich : Cornelius was a rich man ; he 
was not sinful because he was so. We read of Gains, who 
exercised hospitality to the saints. Joseph of Arimathea 
was a wealthy man, and yet he was a good man. It is per- 
fectly possible to be poor as Lazarus, and to be the most 



148 FORESHADOWS. 

covetous wretch in Christendom. It is not what a man has 
that makes the covetousness, but it is the hunger after what 
he has not, and the concentrating all his thoughts upon it, 
and drawing from it the main elements of his joy, his com- 
fort, his satisfaction, his repose. If a man, for instance, 
desires to be rich in order to lay out his stores in benevo- 
lence, it is a perfectly proper wish; who would not desire 
it? One sometimes says, "I wish I were richer, I would 
give more to this or that:" yet God knows best, if one were 
richer perhaps one would not be so liberal; for it is a very 
strange thing, that liberality does not always grow with the 
increase of wealth. The most wholesome habit that we can 
exercise when young, is that of giving; for if we get into 
the habit of constantly collecting and heaping up, it will 
grow upon us till we become misers. That man who lives 
to scrape money, and get his enjoyment in it, is a miserable, 
unhappy man. It is therefore a wholesome thing to get 
into the habit of giving. And who are the persons that 
give most? those that always are giving. And what are 
the congregations that contribute most ? those that always 
are contributing. That is just the secret, that persons who 
give, are further ready to give, till the habit of liberality 
grows upon them, just as the habit of collecting grows upon 
another and a very different class of mankind. But the 
desire of having wealth in order to enjoy it, or the desire 
of having and adding to our wealth in order to have more 
influence or more power, not to do more good — this is co- 
vetousness. And against this Sinai has pronounced its 
thunders — ^^thou shalt not covet," and Calvary has re- 
corded its sentiment — " covetousness, which is idolatry." 
And an apostle has declared that this spirit — the love of 
money — ^'is the root," not of all evil — that is a mistrans- 
lation — but of all the evils specified in the chapter in which 
it occurs. It is matter of fact, that covetousness, bad as 



THE RICH FOOL. 149 

it is, is not the root of all evils. And our Lord says, "ii 
man's life consistetcth not in the abundance of the things 
that he hath;" i, e. his life, his literal duration of life. 
And who does not know that money cannot add to our 
health? Is it not a fact, that the richest men have often 
the greatest cares? There is one point, I think, beyond 
Avhich property comes to be a load, and ceases to be a plea- 
sure, even in the case of the best men ; that is, when the 
establishment rises to be as large as a manufactory, and 
the head of it has forty, or fifty, or a hundred servants 
under him, it requires an immense deal of arrangement 
and management, and he becomes much more a tasked man 
than the head of a mercantile establishment in London. 
He has the greatest cares and anxieties ; his whole life is 
a plot; he must constantly scheme how to make both ends 
meet, compose disputes, and satisfy demands, and give 
orders ; so that there is a point beyond which rank or wealth 
ceases to be positive quiet. There is no happiness in the 
spangle on the robe, or in the glare and glitter of the car- 
riage, or in the magnificence of liveries. In all that the 
world thinks the symbol of happiness there is too often, 
only the covering of corroding and carking cares. Hence 
it is said, ^'He that loveth silver, shall not be satisfied with 
silver." Life cannot be lengthened by money, a man's 
happiness cannot be increased by it. Every one must 
know that the springs of happiness are within ; the supply 
of it never can come from without. Make the heart happy, 
and the whole man Avill be full of happiness ; draw your 
happiness from without, it is a broken cistern from which 
you attempt to draw it, it can hold no water. Beware of 
covetousness: do not begin the habit of it; recollect that 
a man's life, that is, happiness, does not consist in what he 
has, but in what he is. Let a man be made good, and he 
will be happy ; let him, while he remains what sin has made 



150 FORESHADOWS. 

him, try to draw happiness from without, and he will be 
miserable still. 

He spake this parable unto them in order to illustrate 
the sentiment which I have tried to explain. " The ground 
of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully." It is 
quite plain that this man was not a good man : it is as plain 
that, though not a good man, he was prospered in the world. 
^^His ground brought forth plentifully." What does this 
teach us? It teaches us not to judge of what we are by 
what God's providence does to us, but to judge of what we 
are by what God's word says respecting us. Yet many 
persons reverse this; they judge that they are good because 
their ground brings forth plentifully, and their merchandise 
succeeds in the world; and they judge that others are bad 
because their property is swept away, or their riches have 
taken wing and fled away. If this man had been a good man, 
he would have recollected, when his ground brought forth 
plentifully, the sentiment which is addressed to every one 
whose ground or whose merchandise brings forth plentifully : 
'^ when riches increase, set not thine heart upon them." He 
forgot that : he set his heart upon them, and he perished with 
them. How much philosophy there is in this sentiment of 
the Psalmist ! We have often thought, that when a thing be- 
comes common to a person by his having much of it, he 
ceases to care about it. This is true of many things, but it 
is not true of wealth. For strange to say, the more money 
one has, the more one is disposed to set one's heart upon it. 
And when is it that we cease to do so ? First, when riches 
begin to flee away, then, strange it is, we begin to have 
less anxiety about them, and to fix our afi'ection less upon 
them; so that the increase of riches tends to make us set 
our hearts upon them more; it is the decrease of riches 
that makes us feel less attachment to them. And hence 
they are generally least covetous who have daily bread only ; 



THE lllCII FOOL. 151 

and too often the most covetous are they ayIio find at the 
close of every year that their wealth is increasing, and their 
ground bringing forth plentifully. Increase adds to the 
strength of covetousness, decrease deducts from it. Wliat 
a perversity in human nature, that the more God gives, the 
less we feel his hand in it, and the more prone we are to 
worship, and adore, and love the gift in the room of God. 
He whose ground thus brought forth plentifully, we are 
told, said within himself, ^' What shall I do, for I have not 
room where to bestow my fruits?" "He thought w^ithin 
himself." Had he been a Christian he would have gone 
to a minister of the gospel, or some elder, or pious man, 
and asked him, Do you know of any that are really suffer- 
ing ? of any brother man or brother Christian whose wants 
need to be supplied? of any fire that is burned out, and 
the mother and starving children are creeping round it, and 
perishing with cold? Do you know of any one that wants 
to spread the gospel, or to raise a school, or to teach the 
young, or to do good in any shape? God has made me 
rich, that I may be more liberal: God has made me a 
steward, I wish to discharge the responsibilities of my 
stewardship. He then would have found space in the bo- 
som of the needy, and <^room" in the mouths of orphans, 
and would not have needed to trouble himself where I shall 
lay up my goods. But his anxiety was only to gratify the 
lust of the eye. Had he been taught the word of God, he 
would have recollected to lay up treasure in heaven. I be- 
lieve, on strong grounds, that he who gives to the cause 
of Christ, does not fling away his money ; he sends it be- 
fore him ; it enters heaven before him ; it is treasure that 
he has laid up with God, who will always give the interest 
when, where, and how he pleases. Some men will only 
trust the stocks, and place their money there ; a Christian 
man will trust God, and place his money with him, and 



152 FORESHADOWS. 

leave him to give interest or to withhold it, he desires to 
be rich toward God, and so knows that all will be well. 
I sometimes shrink from appealing for money for good 
objects; but I am quite certain of this, that I oblige you 
in asking — you do not so much oblige me in giving. I give 
you the opportunity; I tell you of the good object; I tell 
you of the opening, and I am obliging you in telling you 
it is so, and laying the responsibility at your door for giv- 
ing as God may enable you. Thus it is written by an an- 
cient father, St. Augustine, who wrote sometimes very 
beautifully on this very parable, in these words, '« God de- 
sires not that thou shouldest lose thy riches, but that thou 
shouldest change their place." So truly is this illustrated 
in the fourth century by one who, as I stated in previous 
lectures, was one of the first of the white-robed martyrs 
who have washed their robes and made them white in the 
blood of the Lamb. But this rich man did not come to this 
conclusion: he says, "I will pull down my barns and build 
greater." Notice the monosyllable there, ^^my," through- 
out the whole of his memorable speech. You can see how 
much there is of "my" in it, i. e. how much of self. Le- 
gally he could say my barns, and my monej^, and my goods, 
and my fruits ; but, in the sight of God, they were not his, 
he was but a trustee ; they were committed to his steward- 
ship: they were God's, for all came from him, and all 
should have been given to him. In this he exhibited the 
atheism of his nature, excluding God, and adoring only the 
money that God had given him. Again, he adds, "I will 
say to my soul." Not only my fruits, my barns, my goods, 
but also my soul. Now here his atheism displays itself 
again. God says, "all souls are mine;" and any one who 
would exercise common sense, not to speak of reading God's 
word, would say, that soul is not his : we cannot determine 
when it shall go ; we cannot determine by what exit it shall 



THE RICH FOOL. 153 

go ; we cannot say that soul shall be with the body ten days, 
or ten months, or ten years. The soul is not our own, and 
when we fall asleep, it has always appeared to me that we 
make the nearest approach to the separation of the soul from 
the body. It is then that we seem to let go our grasp of life. 
While we wake we seem to have a grasp of life ; but when 
we sleep it seems as if we had let go life, and a touch, a 
whisper, would steal it away from us. This man, however, 
said «^ my soul," as if he had made it, redeemed it, could com- 
mand its presence, and determine the hour of its separation, 
as if it were like his fruits and goods, part and parcel of 
the stock or property which belonged to him. Then he said 
to this soul, which he thus treated as property, ^^Soul, thou 
hast much goods laid up for many years ; take thine ease, 
eat, drink, and be merry." How complete is the picture 
of the man presented in this passage ! He thought he 
was now secure against any casualty, his property was 
safe, his money was well laid out, and he might say to 
himself, ^'I will cease to toil, I will lay aside the cares of 
business, I will exchange the city for the country, the 
counting-house for the nice country villa ; I will look at 
my fields, and flowers, and fruits, and farm, and eat, 
drink, and be merry, and bid farewell to the din and ex- 
citement of a city, and enjoy myself." How many have 
said so ! yet never one who said so and made the experi- 
ment, without the gospel in his heart, felt that his retire- 
ment was happy. Nay, I have heard that more suicides 
have been committed by those who have retired from busi- 
ness, than ever were committed by those who have plunged 
in its deepest excitement: and why? because the vacuum 
in the soul was filled by the excitement of business ; while 
when this excitement was withdrawn by their retirement 
from business, there was nothing left to fill the gap, all 
was aching, chasm, desolation, misery. Some have even 



154 FORESHADOWS. 

rushed back to the city in order to escape death ; others 
have rushed from life, in order, as they thought, to escape 
its terrors. If I address any one who looks forward to 
such a retirement, let me say, it is perfectly legitimate, if 
you do it in subjection to the will of God, to look forward 
to a time when you shall lay aside the bustle and excite- 
ment and disturbance of this world's business: but be sure 
that you have found the element of peace before you make 
the exchange. '' Seek first the kingdom of God and his 
righteousness :" be Christian, and then when you retire 
from the world's excitement to enjoy the calm in the twi- 
light of this world's life, it will be a twilight hallowed by 
the consciousness of peace with God, and touched by the 
first beams of that approaching twilight which ushers in 
everlasting and glorious day. But how degraded was this 
poor creature here ! What a terrible subversion of intel- 
lect, and soul, and heart, in Epicureanism ! '^Eat, drink, 
and be merry." That was the essence of his life, the sub- 
stance of his happiness, the only thing that he could con- 
ceive to constitute happiness. And he adds, as if further 
developing his atheistic feelings, ^^J have much goods laid 
up for many years." He never thought that there were 
two ways by which he could be separated from his goods ; 
they might be torn from him, or he might be snatched from 
them. There are two ways by which a rich man and his 
riches may be separated ; he may be taken to the judg- 
ment-seat and leave his wealth behind him ; or the w^ealth 
may be taken from him, and leave him poor behind it. 
This fool forgot the words of James, '' What is your life ? 
it is even a vapour;" and then he adds instruction most 
important : '^ Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for 
your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are 
corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold 
and silver is cankered, and the rust of them shall be a 



THE RICH FOOL. 155 

•witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. 
Ye have heaped treasures together for the last days." 
But are not the feelings of this rich fool, as he is called in 
the parable, the feelings of many who contemplate turning 
their thoughts to the gospel at some future period ? Any 
one who says, "I have no time to think about Christianity 
now, but God forbid that I should never intend to do so : 
I admit the Bible to be true ; I believe the gospel to have 
claims upon me that I cannot shake off: but at present I 
am so overwhelmed with this world, so taken up with this 
business, so absorbed in the settlement of these affairs, 
that I cannot attend to it now ; but as soon as I have got 
a partner, and as soon as I have got rid of the pressure 
of this business, then I intend to pay attention to the Bible 
and become a Christian," — deceives himself. Such words 
are just the echoes, prolonged through successive centu- 
ries, of the man's sentiment in the text, ^^Soul, thou hast 
much goods laid up for many years." We have no sure 
capital of life. We have not a stock of life, as we may 
have a stock of goods. I cannot say, I have life for 1852. 
God gives the heart every pulse every second, he gives us 
our daily life just as he gives us our daily bread; and for 
any one to calculate upon life for a year is to exclude God 
from his reckoning, and to play the atheist in the matter 
of chronology as well as in the matter of human conduct. 
Those, you may depend upon it, who have no time for 
religion now, it is more than a probability, never will have 
time for it. How long time will it take you to be recon- 
ciled to God ? Do you recollect the jailer of Philippi ? He 
came in in the agony of his fears, and cried, <'What must 
I do to be saved ?" What was the answer of the apostle? 
'' Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be 
saved !" And what was the result ? The jailer believed, 
and rejoiced, with all his house. Reconciliation to God 



156 FORESHADOWS. 

is instant submission to him, consenting to be saved in 
God's way, for God's glory, according to God's word. 
Salvation is just acquiescence in all that God says, and 
then going forth to do the duties that devolve upon us, the 
duties prescribed by Caesar, or rendered necessary by our 
circumstances, with a heart at peace with God ; and with 
this happy feeling, come life, come death, nothing shall 
separate me from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus 
my Lord. If there are any here, however, like the rich 
fool, calculating upon many years, and thinking they have 
much laid up to carry them through every vicissitude, take 
care lest, as his words have been adopted by you, as sub- 
stantially the expression of your feelings, God's words 
should also light upon you as substantially the pronouncing 
of your doom, " Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be re- 
quired of thee." God was not ignorant of his words, nor 
indifferent to his faith. In what shape He conveyed this 
message we know not. It may have been a ray of light 
that shot into his conscience ; it may have been a voice 
that came from the skies and sounded in his ears, and 
awoke him to a sense of its reality — whatever it was, it 
pronounced the man a fool. '' Thou fool, this night thy 
soul shall be required of thee.'' As if he had said, ^'You 
think yourself wise, a sagacious man, buying in the cheap- 
est market, selling in the dearest ; you think yourself able 
to match any one in making a purchase, and to run a race 
of successful competition in making the largest profits. So 
far indeed you are wise : you may be pronounced wise on 
the Royal Exchange, and in the city article, but you are 
pronounced a fool in heaven, and by the testimony of the 
word of God. It is possible to be wise in all the things of 
Caesar, and to be an absolute fool in the judgment of him 
whose judgment only is of worth. ^^Thy soul," he said, 
^^will be required of thee." Every word is expressive. 



THE RICH FOOL. 157 

<« Required of thee," shows that it would be with reluct- 
ance he would surrender it ; that he would hold it back as 
if it were his own, and only give up that soul when he 
could not resist the power that applied for it. ^''Tliy soul 
shall be required of thee,'' That gift which thou hast 
prostrated — that treasure which thou hast buried in the 
earth — that talent which thou hast wrapped in a napkin—- 
that possession of which thou claimest a monopoly, but 
which thou hast no power over whatever, I made and gave 
to thee, like a precious gem, to be polished, in order that 
it might reflect my glory ; having looked upon thee, I find 
that thou hast wasted it, broken it, and prostituted it ; and 
therefore, w^hether thou likest or not, ^^ this night thy soul 
shall be required of thee." Like a pitiless exactor, the 
tribute is demanded, and he had no power to refuse it. 
Then follows the question, ^' Then whose shall all these 
things be ;" those fruits, those enlarged barns, this accu- 
mulated property — whose shall it be ? What will it do for 
thee ? Will it follow thee to the judgment-seat and pre- 
vail with the Judge to acquit you ? Will it encounter death 
and conquer him? When you tremble on the verge of the 
grave, will it snatch you away, and crown your efforts to 
overcome death, and enable you to live for ever ? Or if 
you must leave it behind you, as leave it behind you must, 
who will have it ? And I ask every rich man, who is ac- 
cumulating money under whatever pretence, to ask himself 
whose will this property be ? You say, your son's. But 
are you sure it will be a blessing to him. Money is not 
always a blessing : yet how common is it for men to think 
that if they give to one that comes after them money, they 
are giving him a positive blessing ! They are just giving 
him an element of tremendous power ; it may prove to 
him a curse that will cleave to him and destroy him for 
ever. It is not necessarily a blessing. Be sure what your 

II. SER. 11 



158 FORESHADOWS. 

son is first, and then give wliat money God in his good 
providence may enable you. How well does the Psalmist 
say, '(■ He heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall 
gather them !" I have noticed that when men defraud the 
poor, deny the claims of charity, and of religion, and of 
the gospel, in order to accumulate money, and leave it to 
those that come after them, it never proves a blessing ; 
but, on the contrary, those who have responded liberally 
and largely to every good, noble, and beneficent claim, 
have their children growing up like olive-plants round their 
table, blessed, and calling them blessed. I believe in a 
God acting in providence and watching all, and I believe 
that never yet was there a liberal man, in the right sense 
of that word, liberal to all the claims of religion, and cha- 
rity, and benevolence, who was not in some way blessed by 
God. Even men of the world, who are liberal men, seem 
to be far happier men than others ; and if there be one 
man worthy of the name of miser, it is he who has neither 
the heart nor the habit of giving to the claims of Christ 
and of the gospel — " he that layeth up treasure on earth, 
and is not rich toward God." There are two w^ays in 
which a man may be rich toward God ; the first is by pos- 
sessing the unsearchable riches of Christ, the pardon of 
sin, peace with God, acceptance through the blood of Jesus, 
the adoption of a son. These are the first, the chiefest, 
the greatest things. Nothing must supersede them ; no- 
thing can be a substitute for them ; and if a man has not 
peace with God, if he is not a Christian, no matter what 
he may be in the estimate of man, that man is poor — poor 
indeed. But there is a second way in which one may be 
rich toward God ; and that is by giving to God a portion 
of one's wealth. You ask, ^^How give to God?" He is 
enthroned upon the riches of the universe ; to give to him 
would be like to add a drop to the ocean, or hold a taper 



TIIE RICH FOOL. 159 

to the meridian sun. How can we give to God? Our 
blessed Lord has tohl us, and never forget it, " Whosoever 
shall give to one of the least of these a cup of cold water, 
verily I say unto, he shall not lose his reward/' 

We may draw one or two conclusions from the parable 
we have thus endeavoured to explain. First, the posses- 
sion of wealth is not sinful. I believe indeed that the 
greatest calamity to the social system would be the uni- 
versal equalization of all society, the bringing down all to 
one level. I rejoice that there are the rich, I know that 
there will be the poor, and if there were no rich and poor, 
there would be no opportunity for the interchange of those 
bright and noble feelings, that, like the lightning's sweep 
through the skies, illumine the gloom of this world, and 
show that it has affinities still with heaven. When a man 
gives freely for Christ's sake, that man does an act that 
makes the nearest approach to the character of Christ, 
that is, if he gives simply to do good. 

Here, too, it is important to notice, that increase of 
money brings with it in every case this peril, that it ex- 
poses to many temptations, it adds many and mighty re- 
sponsibilities. I hope that all who have will feel this. I 
mean, by a rich man, one who is able to pay all his debts 
at Christmas, and have something over. I do not mean 
one who has half a million, but one who has something 
left after paying all just and proper demands. I mean 
one who can look back upon the last year, and say, shocks 
have been here, convulsions there, and ruin has draw^n its 
ploughshare along one place, and death has entered an- 
other. I have been prospered, and my prospects for the 
year to come are still bright, and I will, as a new-year's 
offering, give something for Christ's sake. 

A day comes when the richest sinner on earth shall be 
seen to have been poor, and the wisest worldling a fool. 



160 FORESHADOWS 

Let us look on such in the light of eternity. Let us here, 
in some degree, live in the future, and let the present be 
spent in God's strength, and according to his word, and 
the future will be rich in blessings to us. Let us feel as 
candidates for a glorious treasure. Let us live as expect- 
ants of eternal joj. Let all things remind us this is not 
our re^, or our home. We look for a city. Christ is our 
treasure beyond the age that now runs out. Let our 
hearts beat beside him, and be happy by responding to his 
touch. 



161 



LECTURE XL 

TRUE RICHES. 

And when he was gone forth into tho way, there came one running, and kneeled 
to him, and asked him. Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eter- 
nal life ? And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou mo good ? there is none 
good but one, that is, God. Thou knowest the commandments. Do not com- 
mit adultery. Do not kill. Do not steal. Do not bear false witness, Defraud 
not. Honour thy father and mother. And he answered and said unto him, 
Master, all these have I observed from my youth. Then Jesus beholding 
him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell 
whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in 
heaven : and come, take up the cross, and follow me. And he was sad at 
that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions. And 
Jesus looked round about, and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they 
that have riches enter into the kingdom of God ! And the disciples were as- 
tonished at his words. But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, 
Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the king- 
dom of God ! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, 
than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. And they were as- 
tonished out of measure, saying among themselves. Who then can be saved? 
And Jesus looking upon them saith. With men it is impossible, but not with 
God: for with God all things are possible. — Mark x. 17-27. 

The young man recorded in this passage, which seems 
to bQ an actual history rather than a mere parable, was 
perfectly sincere, and went forth in the earnest pursuit of 
the highest duty that devolves on man. His attitude was 
^^ running" — that of intense and anxious desire, and his 
position, when he arrived, that of kneeling, an indication 
of his humility of mind ; and the language in which he 
addressed our blessed Redeemer was in all respects such 
as became him : " Good Master, what shall I do that I may 
inherit eternal life?" At this point Jesus offered an ob- 
jection, apparent at least, to the young man's application 



162 FORESHADOWS. 

of the epithet ^<^good." The sequel will show the reason 
of this. The young man thought himself good, and Jesus 
just such another as himself. Our lord was about to con- 
vince him of sin, and therefore he alludes by implication 
to the only good One, who alone is perfectly good, and so 
teach the young man to feel himself defective in real good. 
It was meant to raise the young man's standard of good 
by presenting that standard in all its perfection, and to 
indicate that if he recognised not Jesus as God, he wholly 
misapplied the epithet good. ' Our Lord, at verse 19, 
quotes the last five commandments, or the second division 
of the moral law, first, probably, to show how far the na- 
tural man may go in obedience to inherent and in itself 
unblamable, constitutional, or conventional feeling, and 
other ordinary standards, in discharging the duties that he 
owes to his brethren of mankind, not that he could have 
stood the test if it had been presented in all its spirituality 
as it is explained in Matt. v. 21, 22, 27, 28 : " Ye have 
heard that it was said by them of old time. Thou shalt not 
kill ; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the 
judgment: but I say unto you. That whosoever is angry 
with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the 
judgment : and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, 
shall be in danger of the council : but whosoever shall say, 
Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. ... Ye have 
heard that it was said by them of old time. Thou shalt not 
commit adultery: but I say unto you. That whosoever 
looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adul- 
tery with her already in his heart." But it appears, from 
all we can gather, that the outward character of the young 
man was in every respect unexceptionable, amiable, bene- 
volent, generous, and kind. And, while all this was no 
ground of justification in the sight of God, yet so far as it 
w^ent, it was so lovely, that Jesus even regarded it with 



TRUE RICHES. 163 

divine complacency. We may love on earth those Avho 
are not loved in heaven. There may be many beautiful, 
though human attractions. We may desire the Avelfare 
of such, though we may not altogether approve of all 
they are. 

Jesus said, '^One thing thou lackest.'' At this point 
there is introduced the first table of the law ; and its far- 
reaching requirements, in all the length and breadth of 
their practical and universal application, are made to con- 
verge into one point, and by this means it was to show 
whether God or an idol was supremest in the young man's 
heart. No doubt the young man thought that the first 
table, and the second too, had both been kept by him, with- 
out any real infraction, but here was a test, which never 
was adduced before. Can you cast away your property, 
and lean only on God? Can you leave the land and walk 
on the sea, looking only to God ? Can you live after you 
have thrown away the bread that you eat, and learn that 
man liveth not by bread alone, but by every word that pro- 
ceedeth out of the mouth of God ? Do so — try it — now 
is the occasion. This is a precedent ever applicable in 
spirit, though literally inapplicable now. For a short season, 
at the commencement of the Christian dispensation, all 
things were common. This law is now repealed, as far as 
its strict literal obligation is concerned ; for the apostle 
speaks, in one of his Epistles, of collections for the poor, 
and our Lord shows that the permanent law is, ^'The poor 
ye have always.'' Nor can the words of our Lord imply 
that alms are a title to heaven. This would peril the grand 
and distinctive doctrine of Christianity, which pervades 
and colours the whole of the word of God, that we are 
justified by faith alone in the righteousness of Christ alone, 
and would also contradict the express assertion, ^'By deeds 
of law no flesh shall be justified," and << though I give all 



164 FORESHADOWS. 

my goods to feed the poor, and have not charity, it profit- 
eth me nothing." Rom. iii. 20 ; 1 Cor. xiii. 3. Its obvious 
meaning is, part Avith the object that stands between you 
and Christ Jesus, and obstructs your union with him, that 
binds you to earth, and breaks or prevents your connection 
and communion with heaven. Subordinate it, put it down, 
watch against it, and ever regard it as your peculiar peril. 
It is the competitor for that place which Christ must fill 
with his own glory, or forsake. Whatever it is that makes 
you sin, or draws you away from me, you must shrink from, 
or you cannot be my disciple. The young man, it is record- 
ed, went away sorrowful. He could not make a sacrifice 
that would leave a chasm so deep and so vast, that he felt, 
however erroneously, that God could not fill it. It would 
create, he supposed, a sense of loss so harrowing, that 
no treasure in earth or from heaven would be adequate to 
remove it. '^ I would," some one may say, to translate his 
language into modern phraseology, <-' I would become a de- 
cided Christian, but at present I am driving a profitable 
trade, which necessitates subordination of God's command- 
ments to the possible advancement of my own worldly cir- 
cumstances, and I must wait." Such a one goes away sor- 
rowful, perhaps never to return. ^' I would be a Christian," 
says another, ^' I feel its importance, its urgency deserves 
all eloquence in its advocates, but my position in life, the 
circumstances I move in, the customs and conformities of 
rank to which God has raised me in his providence, oblige 
me to wait. I cannot commit myself wholly to the gospel 
now. I will think of it at a convenient season." Do not 
mistake your real position. You simply refuse to take up 
the cross, you renounce the foundation of every true hope, 
you go away sorrowful. You have lands and houses and 
great possessions : you are not asked to resign them, but 
to dedicate a portion to the cause and spread of the gospel ; 



TRUE EICIIES. 165 

but your luxuries and indulgences forbid you. You go 
away sorrowful, you refuse to be one of Christ's disciples. 

How just and natural is the corollary deduced from this ! 
'^ How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the 
kingdom of God!" One sometimes finds oneself saying, 
^^I wish I were rich; I would, for the sake of my country- 
men and their children, benefit this church, build that school, 
and do others good." But one finds it necessary to check 
oneself, and to say, ^^ A change of circumstances might not 
always be accompanied with the same convictions." Were 
many poor made rich, they would be less useful, not more 
useful. And, therefore, the olden prayer most becomes 
us, '' Give me neither poverty nor riches, but feed me with 
food convenient for me." 

The ^'kingdom of God" here is plainly the sway and in- 
fluence of Christ Jesus in the gospel; and to enter into it, 
is in this passage equivalent to coming under the influence 
and the power of Christian truth, as it is revealed in Christ 
Jesus. At present, and in our natural state, the dominion 
of things seen is so strong, that we disregard the things 
that are unseen. The sceptre of mammon takes the place 
too much, and too far and wide, and too long, of the sceptre 
of Jesus. The attractions of sense supplant or supersede 
the attractions of faith. How hardly shall the proud man 
get rid of his pride ! the ambitious man of his idol ! the 
wealthy man of his confidence ! and enter self-renouncing, 
self-denying, self-sacrificing, the kingdom of Jesus ! 

But, it may be asked, is not this modified very much by 
verse 24, ^« And the disciples were astonished at his words. 
But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them. Children, 
how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into 
the kingdom of God !" This verse is often misinterpreted. 
It means, not trust in riches for heaven, but for happiness ; 
not for future, but for present happiness. It implies. How 



I 



166 FORESHADOWS. 

hardly shall they, who are absorbed in the things of sense, 
be torn from the circumstances under whose influence they 
act, and brought to look for happiness, and live under the 
power of faith^ and hope, and holiness, and charity, and so 
anticipate their rest in the age to come. It is not the 
amount of wealth, but the resistless influence that it exerts, 
that is the great sin. The greater the amount, it is true, 
too often the greater is its weight. And hence, ordinarily, 
they that are the richest drag the heaviest load behind 
them. But we have all heard of mendicants who have 
been misers, and of very rich men who have been very 
liberal. 

"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a 
needle," it is added, "than for a rich man to enter into the 
kingdom of God." This seems, at first sight, an unna- 
tural figure, and hence some have proposed to read, instead 
of '/ApsqXov, {cameelon^) xafidov, (camilon^) which last denotes 
a cable, while the former, so like it in spelling, denotes a 
camel. Others refer to the camel entering by the low door 
of the Arab tent, at which he must kneel before he can 
have access. Others think, again, it refers to a mountain 
gorge in Palestine, called by this name. Others retain 
the words just as they are in our translation; and as the 
camel was the largest animal usually seen by the Jew, and 
the needle's eye the smallest space or aperture "with w^hich 
one is proverbially familiar, so these two figures were 
brought near to each other. In some of the Jewish Tal- 
mudical writings, it is said to be "easier for an elephant 
to pass through the eye of af needle," and the Arabs have 
a proverb, that " the camel cannot go through the eye of 
a needle." 

Being astonished above measure, the disciples asked, 
"Who then can be saved?" They all felt condemned and 
guilty before God. Whether rich or poor, they all saw, 



TRUE RICHES. 167 

because they all felt the attractions of time, and that they 
too were on the mighty current and rushing away from 
God, and hence they asked, in language almost approach- 
ing to despair, ''Who then can be saved?" The answer 
is given, ''With men it is impossible, but not with God: for 
with God all things are possible." Man cannot change the 
heart, the taste, or the affections. No human hand can 
reach, and touch, and retune the tangled feelings of the 
human soul, or lift it high above the love of earthly riches 
to the love of the unsearchable riches of Christ. All elo- 
quence, the most fervid, has been known to fail ; all example, 
however beautiful, has ceased to act; and nations and in- 
dividuals have confessed that the salvation of the least and 
of the greatest sinner are equally, not by might, nor by 
power. Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? 
The love of the world, the lust of the flesh, and the pride 
of life — this world's trinity — need the triune Jehovah to 
extirpate them. But "with God all things are possible." 
The salvation of the sinner, the most difficult of all, in our 
apprehension, is possible with God. This is now made 
actual in the grand provision of a sacrifice for sin made by 
Christ upon the cross, in, and through, and by which what 
w^as impossible before is possible now — nay, not possible, 
but actual. God is just, while he justifies them that believe 
in Christ Jesus. That blessed Saviour has paid all hu- 
manity ever owed to God, and has purchased more than 
God ever owed to us. A birthright is ours, which Esau 
could sell, but which Jacob could not buy. We have gained 
in Christ more than we lost in Adam. The obstruction is 
utterly swept away, and there is no impediment in the 
heaven above, or in the earth beneath, except in our un- 
belief, to our entering into the kingdom of God, and being 
numbered with the saints of God in glory everlasting. 
We learn from the whole of this passage, that riches are 



168 FORESHADOWS. 

not necessarily the blessings that some suppose. They are 
apt to produce pride in those that possess them, and thus 
to contract our spirits ; and stint our sympathies with man- 
kind; and, at all events, they render ever needful the words 
of the apostle, '^ Charge them that are rich in this world, 
that they be ready to distribute." Money lays the heart 
open to many temptations and corruptions; it presents 
great facilities for sin ; and the rare fact is still what it 
was in the days of the apostles, that not many rich, or 
noble, are called. Let us not regret that w^e are poor in 
this world's wealth if we are rich toward God; if we have 
the enduring riches, we have that which neither thief can 
steal, nor moth consume, nor rust corrupt. Let us take 
up our cross, and follow Christ here, and ours shall be at 
the last day an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and 
that fadeth not away. Especially you that are Christians, 
and yet rich, convert a portion of your riches to the service 
of Christ. Make friends of the unrighteous mammon; 
lay it out in extending the kingdom of God. Death may 
not tear up your parchment, and your title-deeds, but it 
will remove you from them; and therefore make friends 
now of the unrighteous mammon. Let the glories of the 
future shed some of their rays on the possessions of the 
present. In our disposal of what we now have, let us act 
as those that must give an account ; and having rightly 
managed the worldly mammon, let us see in this a fore- 
shadow of our introduction to the true righteousness and 
riches of the kingdom of glory. 



169 



LECTURE XII. 

THE TWO WORSHIPPERS. 

And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they 
were righteous, and despised others. Two men went up into the temple to 
pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood 
and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other 
men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast 
twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, 
standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but 
smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, 
this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every 
one that exaltcth himself shall be abased : and he that humbleth himself 
shall be exalted. — Luke xviii. 7-14. 

It is plain that this parable has no national relation, as 
far as the Jewish nation, distinct and separate from the 
Gentile, is concerned. It is a parable written not for a 
nation, or for a century, or for a sect, or a party, but for 
all nations, for all ages, for man in every land, and under 
every variety of religious circumstance. It is obvious, 
from the very structure of the parable, that the relation- 
ship of Jew and Gentile was not in the Saviour's mind at 
the moment. It was spoken not to the Pharisee as such, 
or to the publican as such, but to the great classes of which 
these are the types in every age, and who are described 
by our Lord himself in the 9th verse. <'IIe spake this 
parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they 
were righteous, and despised others." It is very strange, 
but true, that they who have the least righteousness always 
trust the most in such as they have, as if they were in- 
wardly conscious that they had very little, and that thcrc- 

II. S£R. 15 



170 FORESHADOWS. 

fore they must make the most of it. It is a scarcely less 
remarkable fact, that they who are the most self-righteous, 
the most confident, having the greatest trust and confi- 
dence in their own excellency and virtue, are the very 
parties that despise, and proceed from despising to perse- 
cute, and from persecuting to imprison, and from imprison- 
ing to burn others. 

Novf in order to teach the two classes of which these 
were the types, a great practical lesson, our Lord does not 
do as we are often apt to do — proclaim abstract truths — 
but he paints a true picture ; he does not present to them 
metaphysical or abstract disquisitions upon the sin of self- 
righteousness and despising others, but he sketches a 
beautiful and expressive parable ; he takes a chapter from 
human history, that has an echo in the human heart, and 
bequeaths it to all in the parable of the Pharisee and the 
publican. 

"Two men went up into the temple to pray,'' created 
by the same God, breathing the same atmosphere, basking 
in the same sunbeam, drenched in the same showers, walk- 
ing on the same earth, nursed, cradled, living and dying, 
and soon to be buried with kindred dust ! What manifold 
points of identity were theirs ! — they were men. Yet 
what practical divergence! — the spirit of the Pharisee 
moving off at a tangent in one direction, and the spirit of 
the publican moving downward in an opposite direction. 
You ask, perhaps, who were the Pharisees ? I need not 
give a disquisition on their character. I would dwell 
rather on the spirit than on the history of the sect.- They 
were called Pharisees from Pharash, a Hebrew word, which 
means '^to separate," or "separation." They were no 
doubt the most popular sect among the Jews ; they built 
their claims exclusively on conformity to outward cere- 
monies ; they believed that an outward ceremonial, beauti- 



THE TWO WORSHIPPERS. 171 

fully performed, was at least as acceptable to God as in- 
Avard purity — that long prayer was a greater virtue than 
a pure and holy life ; they preferred fasts to virtues ; and 
holy vestments, they believed, were more beautiful in God's 
sight than clean hearts ; they wore long phylacteries — a 
sort of long robe, on which they had passages from the 
law, and every inch of Avhich was a sort of ''Noli me tan- 
gere^' or ^' Touch me not" — a ^' Stand aside, I am holier 
than thou, for I am a Pharisee." The publicans were the 
tax-gatherers, or farmers of revenue for Caesar. They 
collected money from the people, and as they were obliged 
to be rigid, because they were officers acting ministerially, 
they were extremely hated by those who did not like to 
pay taxes ; arid they were still more hated by the Jews, 
because they were the representatives of Ceesar's power ; 
and ever as the tax-gatherer appeared at their doors, it 
was a dark shadow, reminding them of their subjection, 
and proving to us that the sceptre had passed away from 
Israel, and that Judah was a slave. The publicans, there- 
fore, were especially detested. Hence we read of '^Dub- 
licans and sinners," or, as it might be translated, I think, 
fairly enough, (the Greek conjunction /.ai having often the 
sense of ''even,") ''publicans, even sinners." The two 
words became convertible. We know they were generally 
a profligate and degraded race of men. This publican 
was one that had no phylactery to wrap around him, and 
so to feel that he was holy ; he had no splendid ceremonies 
which he had complied with, and which made him think he 
had made an atonement for his sins ; he had nothing but 
his own naked heart, his own conscious depravity, his own 
self-convicted alienation and apostasy from God — nothing 
but shame and sin were his, he had nothing on which he 
could hook a thought of self-glory, or self-praise. The 
Pharisees were, to use a modern expression, the Brahmins 



172 FORESHADOWS. 

of India, and the publicans were the Pariahs. The Phari- 
sees were, to give another antitype, the Romanists and 
Tractarians of England, and the publicans were the hea- 
thens in our streets and alleys, or the men that either 
never hear the gospel, or that know its name, and live in 
the gross disregard of it. These were types of two great 
classes — classes which, whether designated or not, are 
found everywhere in human society. 

Now, in watching the points of identity between these 
men selected for the parable, let me notice that both 
acknowledged the duty and the privilege of prayer. The 
two men, the Pharisee and the publican, went into the 
temple to pray. Does not this seem to indicate that there 
is in every congregation a great mixture, which indeed we 
know — Pharisees here and publicans there. If every 
heart could be laid bare, and the true state and character 
of every man unfolded, what a heterogeneous mixture 
would our best congregation appear ! Bowed knees, and 
unbent hearts ; devout countenances, and undevout souls ; 
in the same temple, holy men in rags, and saints in 
suifering, and sinners consciences-struck ; these different 
classes beneath the same roof, but not in the same church, 
or clothed with the same righteousness ; using the very 
same psalm in praise, and concurring apparently in the 
very same words in prayer, and yet, many neither praising 
nor praying ; men like Christians, and professing to be 
Christians, and yet not so ; men that you would not expect 
to be Christians, who have the deepest, purest, holiest 
thoughts within them, whose life is fact^ whose conduct 
never is pretension, who would rather he than seem^ and be 
better than they seem to be. 

These two went into the temple and prayed. We read 
of the Pharisee, and let us take his character first, ^'he 
stood and prayed thus with himself." Some, and indeed 



THE TWO WORSHIPPERS. 173 

most commentators, have the idea that the attitude of the 
Pharisee was an attitude of pride. I do not think this is 
fact, because we find that the publican kept the same 
attitude. We read of him in the 13th verse, that he was 
''standing afar oiF." Standing, therefore, cannot be set 
down as evidence of the pride of the Pharisee. Besides, 
we find that among the Jews all sorts of attitudes prevailed 
in Avorship. We read of them standing ; sometimes kneel- 
ing ; of their falling flat upon their faces. Thus, for 
instance, it is recorded of Solomon, when he prayed to 
God at the dedication of the temple, '' Solomon stood be- 
fore the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the con- 
gregation." In another place we have an instance of 
another attitude. Of Daniel we read that, '' his windows 
being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled 
upon his knees three times a day and prayed." When 
Paul parted with the Ephesian presbyters, he kneeled 
down upon the sands by the sea-shore. And we read of 
our Lord falling flat on his face. In the first two centuries 
that succeeded the age of the apostles, Christians, when 
they prayed, knelt upon week days, and stood up on 
Sabbath days. The reason they assigned was, that the 
Sabbath was chiefly a festival, and that it became them to 
stand, rather praising than praying, upon that day which 
commemorated the resurrection of Christ from the dead, 
and was instituted on account of that fact. Various forms 
of Avorship have prevailed, yet these are not the main 
things ; let us ever look above, and through, and beyond 
the form. It is the heart that prays, not the body. God 
hears the beatings of the heart, and not so much the 
words and the expressions of tlie tongue. God looks at 
the. imagery, the feeling, the convictions, the humiliation 
within, not at the bended knee, or the erect form, or the 
devout attitude without. When we draw near to God in 

15>^ 



174 FORESHADOWS. 

prayer, let us present a humble heart rather than a bowed 
knee ; a cleansed soul before washen hands ; a worship in 
spirit and in truth, in preference to the most splendid 
formalism, or the most gorgeous ceremonial. How foolish, 
if this be the case, is it for men to dispute about these 
forms ! If it be that all sorts of forms are recognised by 
the Old and New Testament Scriptures, how useless, to- 
say nothing else, to dispute, and dispute fiercely, about 
their com.parative propriety. It seems to me that one 
evidence in favour of the Bible is, that its rubric is beauti- 
fully vague, while its enumeration of great principles is 
distinct, sharp, emphatic, unmistakable. I think it would 
be somewhat difficult to gather from the Bible, Episcopacy, 
Presbytery, or Independency; but I think it is as plain 
as daylight, that Christ died for the chiefest of sinners. 
I think it would be very difiicult to infer from the Bible 
some of those rubrics about which men have fought, and, 
to their shame, have slain each other ; but it is very easy 
to gather from the Bible this — that ^'Except a man be 
born again, he cannot see the kingdom of heaven." The 
rubrical and ritual forms of the Bible are latitudinarian in 
the extreme, for it prescribes no one in particular ; but in 
saving and sanctifying truths, the Bible is exclusive in the 
highest degree, and can admit of no concession and 
tolerate no compromise. The Bible will allow you to 
worship in any form, if you Avorship in spirit and in truth. 
It will allow you to kneel upon any hill consecrated or 
unconsecrated, if the heart kneels too. It will allow you 
to pray with a liturgy, or pray without one ; to praise 
with an organ, or praise without one ; to preach in any 
form, and hear in any shape ; to sit in open pews, or in 
shut ones, or in no pews at all. But it insists on this as 
the grand essential of all worship, '' God is a Spirit, and 
they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in 



THE TWO WORSHIPPERS. 175 

truth." There is no distinction, therefore, in this part of 
the attitude of the Pharisee very marked from that of the 
poor publican. 

In our vei'sion it is said, '' The Pharisee stood and 
prayed thus with himself." The words ^^with himself," 
strictly and properly belong to the word ''stood." ''lie 
stood by himself and prayed thus." He did not pray 
thus with himself, in the sense of praying internally, that 
nobody might hear him, for it was one of the main designs 
of the Pharisee, that everybody should hear him. There- 
fore, the "himself" belongs to the word "stood," and not 
to the word "prayed." The proper rendering Avould be, 
" The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed thus." There 
is something extremely expressive here. I have stated 
that the name Pharisee is derived from a word which 
means to separate. We notice here the separation, the 
"stand aside, for I am holier than thou," the "do not 
come near me" feeling. We see how that characterized 
the man, not only in his na.me and in his sect, but in every 
thing he did. He must pray as a Pharisee, or he would 
not pray at all. He would not mingle with the crowd, 
lest he should be defiled. If he had a pew in the temple, 
it must have been some very magnificent one, erected 
above all the others, that the rest of the people might see 
it. Nothing is, in my mind, more oifensive than this last, 
which even now occurs. In the house of God there should 
be no such distinctions ; they are not consonant with that 
beautiful equality which ought to be in that house where 
there are but two classes — sinners on the one hand, and 
saints upon the other. This Pharisee, however, would not 
mingle with the crowd, lest he should be defiled ; he would 
be saved in solitary dignity,, or he would not be saved at 
all ; he must go to heaven as a Pharisee, or he would not 
go there at all ; he would not lay himself down on the 



176 FORESHADOWS. 

same platform of humiliation and shame with the publican, 
if he should be lost for ever. This will not do. We 
cannot go to heaven with our phylacteries about us. We 
cannot be saved as Churchmen, or as Dissenters ; as 
Episcopalian, or Moravian, or Baptist, or Independent. 
God vfill not deal with us upon this footing at all. We 
must approach him simply as sinners, and in no other 
capacity upon earth. We must be saved entirely as sin- 
ners, and in no other character in the universe of God. 
As sinners we must approach his footstool; as sinners we 
must approach his throne. As sinners we must pray, and 
as sinners we must praise. Come in any other capacity — 
come as queen, as noble, as plebeian ; come as Church- 
man, or as Dissenter — and God can have nothing to do 
with you. You must leave your robe, your crown, your 
coronet, your sceptre, your Shibboleth, outside the doors, 
and come simply as a poor sinner — a sin-smitten, guilty, 
broken-hearted sinner, saying, '' God be merciful to me a 
sinner;" and he will hear you and bless you, as sure as 
he lives in heaven. This Pharisee, however, was of another 
opinion, and he would therefore come as a Pharisee, and 
in no other shape. But he begins his prayer with what 
was most appropriate. I do not think, with some, that the 
very commencement of his prayer is indicative of his spirit. 
It is quite right to thank God. David begins many of his 
most beautiful Psalms, that end in the most eloquent 
prayer, by thanksgiving. The 103d Psalm, for instance, 
begins with ^' Bless the Lord, my soul : and all that is 
within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, my 
soul, and forget not all his benefits." There was, there- 
fore, no sin in the Pharisee commencing with " I thank 
thee." The eucharistic preface to his prayer was not 
sinful, nor inappropriate, nor unbecoming. It was per- 
fectly orthodox and scriptural in expression. But what 



THE TWO WORSHIPPERS. 177 

does this teach us ? That ^\o may pray orthodoxly, and 
not pray at all ; that avc may use the purest of liturgies, 
and yet present the hnpurest and vilest of prayers; that 
it is quite possible to use the very words of God, and yet 
not be heard. Many pray, who never say prayers; and 
many say prayers, and never pray at all. It is the heart 
that prays. If it pray not, you might as well make an 
automaton pray, or do as the Chinese do, pray by wind- 
mills and machinery. '' God is a Spirit, and they that 
worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." 
Let us never forget this. 

But the orthodoxy of the Pharisee's thanksgiving, it is 
plain, was but the thin vail that scarcely concealed his 
pride. lie thanked God, not because he was grateful, but 
he thanked God eloquently, in order that the world, the 
proud worshippers around him, might know what he was. 
He praised, in other words, under the pretence of giving 
glory to God for what God had made him ; but he meant 
to give a catalogue of his OAvn virtues and excellencies, a 
sort of advertisement of his piety and purity ; a sort of 
information to the world ; as if conscious that his piety 
was too little ever to make itself apparent in acts; and he 
took care, therefore, that it should be heard loudly and 
distinctly by the expressions of his lips. It was not God's 
grace that he wanted to praise, but his own virtues ; not 
religion that he desired to commend, but his own pharisai- 
cal sect. Here then was the fly in the ointment that cor- 
rupted the whole : here was the polluted thing in his 
prayer, — that he made thanksgiving to God a mere instru- 
ment for glorifying and praising himself as the most excel- 
lent of men, the most unrivalled of the doctors of the 
sanhedrim. 

He went on, however, not only to say that he had ex- 
cellencies himself, but to contrast what he was Avith what 



178 FORESHADOWS. 

other men were. ^'God, I thank thee, that I am not as 
other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers/' One 
cannot but ask, in the very outset. What business had he 
to pronounce thus uncharitably upon other men ? How 
did he know that other men were so, unless he had mingled 
with them ? How had he opportunities of coming to so 
accurate a judgment as that which is pronounced here ? 
We may observe also in all his praise and prayer, what a 
large space is occupied by the monosyllable ^^I," how self 
predominates! ^'-I thank thee that I am not as other 
men." ^^/fast.'' "Zgive tithes." One of the very first 
effects of the gospel is to sink self; and if ever ^^I" comes 
in, it is in the beautiful form in which the apostle uses it. 
<^^By the grace of God I am what I am." ^'I laboured 
more than they all,"- — here Paul was beginning as a Pha- 
risee, the old nature struggling for supremacy; but in- 
stantly he checked himself and crushed it, and added, 
"Yet not I, but the grace of God in me." What a con- 
trast ! The Pharisee was all self-eulogy, self-panegyric ; 
the apostle all submersion of " I" in the great "I am that 
I am." The Pharisee then contrasts himself with other 
men; and with the most masterly skill, with the most ex- 
quisite pictorial effect, he selects as his foil the poor publi- 
can, who is standing in a nook far away from the holy 
place, praying aloud, "God be merciful to me a sinner." 
He takes this poor publican, and makes him the back- 
ground of his picture, and on that background he presents 
himself, and says, as it were, "I am not even as this 
publican." What a contrast between us ! There he is, 
poor fellow, beating his breast, lamenting his sins, grieving 
over and admitting his weakness and wickedness, as he 
well may ; but I need no repentance ; I have done nothing 
but virtuous actions ; they sparkle about my brow ; they 
are transparent in my whole biography. The inside of 



THE TWO WORSHIPPERS. 170 

the platter is clean as the outside. I have a washen heart 
as well as washen hands. I need no repentance, and I 
have only to thank God that I am not as other men, nor 
even as this publican. When a painter produces a very 
fine painting, and wishes the main figure to be very pro- 
minent, he makes it as bright as he can, and the back- 
ground he makes as dark as he can. This is the conduct 
of the Pharisee ; he makes himself stand out the prominent, 
bright object ; and the poor publicans, extortioners, and 
sinners are dragged in to constitute the dark background, 
from which he shall be thrown out with richer lustre and 
greater beauty. 

Having pronounced^ a panegyric upon himself, and shown 
that he had no sins, and so far given his negative side, as 
it were, he proceeds to turn his other side, in order to show 
that he was not only destitute of great sins, — that he was 
neither an extortioner nor adulterer, — but that he had 
many positive virtues. The first is this: ''I fast twice in 
the week." And do not the virtues that he expatiates on 
indicate the thorough ceremonialist and self-righteous 
Pharisee? He does not say, ^'I love God with all my 
heart," ^'I love my neighbour as myself." His own con- 
science would have cut the sentence short on his lips, 
because it would have told him he was telling lies. I 
believe he spoke the honest truth, when he said, ^'I fast 
twice in the week." Let us notice the force of this ex- 
pression. The divine appointment w^as that he should 
only fast once a year, at the great day of atonement under 
the Levitical economy. This man not only fasted accord- 
ing to the number of times that God had appointed, but he 
fasted twice a week. What did this imply ? It was as 
much as to say, ^'God thus becomes my debtor : I have 
done more than God has exacted : I have nothing to ask 
from him, but only to thank him for all the excellence that 



180 FORESHADOWS. 

adheres to me." Notice, my dear reader, the danger of 
making too much of ceremony. We can any day do much 
more ceremony than God bids us ; but we cannot any day 
act up to the morality that God requires of us. It is very 
easy to fast oftener than God bids us — to pray oftener 
than God requires us, but it is very difficult indeed to act 
up to the moral requirements that God places upon us. 
And hence the tendency is to think, that if we have given 
God an excess of ceremony, we have put God, as it were, 
into our books, and made him debtor to us, not us debtors to 
him. Here lies the whole danger, then, of looking too much 
to the ceremony, and too little to the moral ; too much to the 
ritual, and too little to the spiritual. But the truth is, excess 
of ceremony is not exceeding what God requires ; it is po- 
sitively dishonouring God, and disobeying what God en- 
joins ; because if God has appointed so much ceremony, 
and if we do more, the answer may be heard from the Bible, 
if not in word, by our hearts, ^'Who hath required this at 
thy hands?" God has given two sacraments, and if we 
make seven, it is as much as to say, '^ God's wisdom was 
not wise enough to know what was best, nor his goodness 
large enough to prescribe what was most conducive to our 
progress. Therefore we will eke out what God has failed 
to do, and mend his prescriptions, by our greater and 
richer wisdom." Besides, if the moral character is defec- 
tive, the ceremonial becomes hateful in the sight of God. 
He tells us so himself. In the first chapter of Isaiah we 
read, ^' To what purpose is the multitude of sacrifices unto 
me ? saith the Lord. I am full of the burnt-offerings of 
rams, and the fat of fed beasts ; and I delight not in the 
blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats. When ye 
come to appear before me, who hath required this at your 
hand, to tread my courts? Bring no more vain oblations ; 
incense is an abomination unto me ; the new moons and 



THE TWO WOllSIIIPPERS. 181 

the sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away 
with ; it is an iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your 
new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth : 
they are a trouble unto me ; I am weary to bear them. 
And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine 
eyes from you : yea, when ye make many prayers, I will 
not hear : your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make 
you clean ; put away the evil of your doing from before 
mine eyes ; cease to do evil, and learn to do well. Seek 
judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, 
plead for the widow." 

But with respect to the special virtue that the Pharisee 
prided himself upon, I may notice what must suggest itself 
to our common sense, that the fasting (and it must be true 
of it, if it be true of the Sabbath) was made for man, and 
not man for the fasting. If fasting means (as I believe 
it does not always mean throughout the New Testament, 
and indeed rarely means alone) abstinence from food, 
many of the poor in every land, we regret to feel, are 
fasting every day. Certainly of the rich we would say, 
if they would eat and drink moderately, they would act 
more in the spirit of fasting, than by fasting rigidly in 
Lent, in order that they may feast luxuriously all the 
rest of the year. Temperance in all things seems to me 
to be the right thing. But if any find fasting conducive 
to their spiritual progress, by all means fast, but do not 
pride yourselves upon and trust in it ; though I think 
it too generally happens that the people who are the 
greatest advocates of fasting are not the worst practisers 
of feasting. It has been almost a law, that Carnival and 
Lent play at see-saw, and that the one is uppermost ever 
as the other is down ; that abstinence from wine .means, 
very often, addictedness to something else ; and all is 
fitted to darken and obscure that noble principle which, 

II. SER. 16 



182 FORESHADOWS. 

like the law of gravitation in the physical world, binds all 
into harmony and order. '' Whatsoever ye do, whether 
ye eat or drink, do all to the glory of God." If any man 
wishes to fast, let me prescribe a diet — not from the Lenten 
pastorals that we sometimes hear from Romish bishops 
throughout Europe, but from a pastoral, the authority of 
which we all admit. '^Is it such a fast that I have chosen? 
a day for a man to afflict his soul ? Is it to bow down his 
head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes 
under him ? Wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable 
day to the Lord ? Is not this the fast that I have chosen? 
to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy bur- 
dens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break 
every yoke ? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, 
and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy 
house? w^hen thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; 
and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? 
Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine 
health shall spring forth speedily, and thy righteousness 
shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy 
rereward." If Tractarians would fast in this style, and 
Romanists too, they would be a blessing to the country ; 
but merely starving themselves, without giving more to 
the needy and the destitute, is only to fast pharisaically, 
and to lay up a fund of imaginary self-righteousness, on 
which leaning, they will find themselves leaning on a 
broken reed. 

Not only did this Pharisee say, ^'I fast twice in the 
week," but he also said, ^^I give tithes of all that I pos- 
sess." Here again was the same self-righteous spirit. 
He gave excess of fasting in order to make God his 
debtor, and he gives excess of tithes for the very same 
object. The tithes under the Levitical law were to be 
tithes of the fruit of the field, of the product of all the 



THE TWO WORSTTTPPERS. 183 

-enrtli, and of the product of the cattle; but he gave 
tithes of mint and anise-seed, and the ^'lesser matters;" 
not because the temple needed it, but because he Avishcd 
to be set down and celebrated throughout the land as a 
devout and distinguished ecclesiastic. It was not his 
piety that made him give so much tithe, but it was purely 
and simply pretension. It was not zeal for the glory of 
God, but zeal for his own eclat. And the excess of tithe 
that he gave was, probably, as our Lord himself has war- 
ranted us to conclude, derived from the plundering of the 
widow and the orphan, that he might add to the splendour 
of the temple, and gather round himself the eclat, the 
honour and applause which a devout pietist expected to 
realize. 

Such, then, is the picture of the Pharisee : I have 
sketched it plainly, simply, and freely. Now the question 
arises from this part of my subject, Is the race of the 
Pharisees extinct ? Are they like those fossil remains of 
Saurian tribes that we have to go to museums and antiqua- 
ries' cabinets to inspect ? Does it require a Layard to dig 
up the remains of the Pharisee ? I fear not. They arc 
everywhere. They are in every country, in every church ; 
they are in every rank, in every sect. It is the party we 
.all abhor, and yet it is a party that prevails as much 
among us as the publicans themselves. Let me show who 
the Pharisees are, and let me speak honestly and faithfully. 

There is the Pharisee in the pulpit ; and I quote my 
proof of it from our Lord's words, " They sit in Moses' 
seat," — that is, the j^lace of teaching, the place of instruc- 
tion. Now with such a man in modern times, what he 
wears is far more than what he is ; what he inherits by 
lineal succession is far more precious than what he speaks 
of the gospel to the people. With him the kingdom of 
God is meat and drink, a rubric, a ritual, a canon ; not 



184 FORESHADOWS. 

righteousness, and peace, and joy. The ablest minister, 
according to his definition, is the most accomplished master 
of the ceremonies. He that can make the most graceful 
genuflexion at the altar is a better minister than he who 
can make the most gracious prostration of his heart before 
the heart-searching God. With such a one Christianity 
was made for the church. The church was made for his 
party, and his party was made for himself. Thus he is a 
Pharisee in the pulpit. But, because there are Pharisees 
in the pulpit, do not suppose there are no Pharisees in the 
pew. Our Lord says there are. ^^ They love the chief 
places in the synagogues, (that is, in the church,) and to 
pray standing in the presence of men, and they disfigure 
their faces." Such a one has a creed and conduct all 
beautiful on Sunday, but reversed and contradicted by 
every action on the Monday. He is every thing that is 
perfect, to see him in the pew ; he is every thing that is 
dishonest and dishonourable in the transactions of life. 
He prays beautifully in the sanctuary ; he acts badly on 
the Exchange. He sings the most beautiful psalms, and 
leads the most unholy, sensual, and unrighteous life. He 
gives liberally to the collection at the church door, puts 
down his name for a thousand pounds to the building 
of a new church ; and he starves his relatives, pays badly 
those that are employed by him, and lives meanly and 
ignobly himself. He is anxious only that he should have 
the glory of the devout Pharisee, not that he should have 
the grandeur of the true Christian and consistent man. 

If there be the Pharisee in the pulpit, there is also the 
Pharisee in the state. Do not suppose that churches 
only have hypocrites, or that pulpits only have pharisaic 
ministers. There are Pharisees in every parliament, the 
purest that ever sat, and among all statesmen, the best 
that ever legislated for the welfare of the country. They 



THE TWO wonsiiirrERS. 185 

show themselves by flattering the people, in order to secure 
their support. They are the desperate enemies of oflicc 
when they are out of it ; they are the eloquent advocates 
of office when they are in it. They court the people to- 
day, to get their votes; they court the greatest ranlc to- 
morrow, in order to get their countenance. Patriotism is 
the talk, place is really the pursuit; and the service of 
the country means the service of themselves. Our Lord, 
speaking of them, says, '' They bind heavy burdens, and 
grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders ; 
but they themselves will not move them with one of their 
fingers." 

But there is also the Pharisee in the shop, in trade, in 
business. We read, that they '"^love greetings in the 
marlcet-jjlace.'' Such a one will mix sacred truths with 
his business. He will manifest his Christianity in his 
words, because he is certain it will never be manifested in 
the purity of his actions. He will tell you when he is sell- 
ing that his whole object is to serve you, not himself; as 
you are a good man, you shall have the article cheaper 
than any other man. He will tell you it has every ex- 
cellence in the world, and will conceal and disguise all its 
faults ; and that he is selling it you at cost price, because 
you are a Christian. 

But do not suppose it is the poor tradesman only that 
is the Pharisee. There are Pharisees also among pur- 
chasers. They come in and off"er the tradesman half of 
what he asks, thus tempting him to ask double what the 
article is worth ; and having teased and tormented him 
till he is worn out, instead of buying the article, and giving 
what is just, liberal, and fair, they give him a tract upon 
tricks in trade, and tell him what Christianity bids and 
forbids. What is this but the Pharisee among purchasers, 



186 FORESHADOWS. 

just as you have the Pharisee among sellers, loving greet- 
ings in the market-place ? 

We have also the Pharisee in the press. The public 
press, I rejoice to know, has much that is good in it. Our 
Lord, in every case, showed and detected the Pharisee, 
and he did so without personality. He spoke of character, 
of conduct in the man, not of character in any one in- 
dividual. Thus I refer to the Pharisee in the press, who 
professes to have nothing hut honour and truth to pro- 
mote, but who has really only a party to promote ; who 
professes to be actuated by the noblest of all patriotic 
principles, but will take care to calumniate, abuse, and 
turn to ridicule all who differ from him, and magnify and 
eulogize all who subscribe to his paper, support his party, 
and trumpet forth his own peculiar principles. 

The last I will notice, is the Pharisee at the fireside. 
Such a one is full of liberality and philL,nthropy- — of large 
and generous feelings at the club, in the coterie, and in 
public societies ; but when he goes home he is sour, ill- 
tempered, morose, and quarrels with his wife, and is satis- 
fied with nothing. He has family worship morning and 
evening, and he rises from his knees to exact the utmost 
from his servants, to whom he pays the least possible for 
their labour ; and while he is all ritually and externally 
beautiful and Christian-like, he is in heart mean, harsh, 
morose, ungenerous, and unjust. Pharisees are not ex- 
tinct. They exist in the nineteenth century, as they ex- 
isted in the first. It is human nature, and human nature 
in its worst formula, under the pretence of religion and 
obedience to God. 

Why do I give these distinctions ? First, to contradict 
an assertion that is often made, that there is no hypocrisy 
anywhere upon earth, but among Christians. You will 
find there is hypocrisy everywhere, wherever wicked men 



THE TWO WORSIIIPPERS. 187 

are anxious to promote their ends and schemes under the 
mask of the excellence or the vh-tue that is current. 
^'Hypocrisy," some one has well said, " is the homage that 
vice pays to virtue/' And if you find that men will pre- 
tend to be honest, in order to do dishonest things, alike in 
the court, the camp, the parliament, and the market, is it 
not in accordance with this great and wide analogy, that 
you should find, even in the house of God, men making re- 
ligion a passport to profit, and pretending piety in order 
to enrich and benefit themselves? It is as unjust to de- 
nounce Christianity because there are hypocrites in it, as 
it is to denounce honesty because there are thieves who 
pretend to be honest in order to steal, or to denounce the 
oak because the parasite ivy grows upon it, strangles it, 
and feeds upon its strength. Remarkable it is, that not 
one sin was so denounced by the Lord as Pharisaism and 
hypocrisy. To the woman caught in adultery, he was pure 
and holy, but compassionate and sin-forgiving. The poor 
publican and sinner was treated with mercy, and found 
acceptance. The greatest criminals, coming from their 
crimes to seek forgiveness and new hearts, were welcomed ; 
but as to the Pharisee, we see in the twenty-third chapter 
of St. Matthew the awful denunciations of our blessed Lord 
upon them, who made the outside of the platter clean, 
while the inside was full of corruption. ^^Wo to you, 
scribes and Pharisees!" ^'They bind heavy burdens, 
grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders, 
but they themselves will not move them w^ith one of their 
fingers." '' They love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and 
the chief seats in synagogues, and greetings in the markets, 
and to be called of men. Rabbi." ^' Ye devour widow's 
houses, and for a pretence tiiake long prayers; therefore 
ye shall receive the greater damnation." To the very 
close of the chapter, our Lord denounces the most awful 



188 FORESHADOWS. 

woes upon them, which shows clearly and plainly that 
hypocrisy is one of the greatest and vilest of sins. The 
cure for it is to be real. Shrink from mere pretension ; 
it has neither power nor permanency. Rather be de- 
scribed as not so Christian, than try to appear more Chris- 
tian than you actually are. In other words, le^ not seem. 
Be better than you look, rather than look better than you 
are. The world itself respects sincerity, and detests (for 
it has light enough left for this) hypocrisy, and sham, and 
pretension. 

Recollect that nothing brings greater discredit on the 
gospel, than Pharisaism and hypocrisy. I do not say the 
world's verdict is just ; but it is a fact, that when a loud 
professor, who has made great pretensions, commits some 
great sin, and is caught, the world does not blame the sin- 
ner because it lives in similar sins, though it does not so 
openly ; but it casts discredit on that blessed gospel which 
the man has made a passport to his wickedness. I do not 
say that the world is just, or that there is any logical con- 
nection between the two things ; but it is a matter of fact, 
of which you are all cognizant, that when a great professor 
falls, it is not he that is visited with punishment, but it is 
the religion that he made his tool that suffers shame and 
discouragement in the world. 

In the next place, in order to avoid any thing of this 
kind, ever realize this, ^^Thou God seest me." Just know, 
that if you would not cheat your fellow-men, or try to do 
so, in what they can easily detect, that you can never 
deceive God. God's eye is as much upon every man's 
individual heart, and motive, and aim, and end, as if God 
and that man were the only twain in the whole created 
universe. Let us never forget, in all places, ^' Thou God 
seest me." Write it on your shops, write it on your led- 
gers, write it on your counters. It might be written on 



THE TWO WORSIIIPrERS. 189 

the parliament, and on the statute book. It may be written 
upon the press ; or rather, which is still better, it may be 
engraved by the Spirit of God upon each individual heart, 
^'Thou God seest me." 

In the next place, be a Christian, then you never can 
be a hypocrite. Seek the Holy Spirit to make you Chris- 
tians ; and you never can consent to be Pharisees. What 
is wanted is not a pure creed, nor mere orthodox preach- 
ing, precious as these are in their place, but it is life. The 
great want of the age is not liberty, nor change of sect, 
nor change of form, nor change of party; but the great 
want is life. The gospel is divine life, not simply an or- 
thodox creed. There is plenty of theology among us; 
there is but too little of religion. There is abundance of 
light, but deficiency of life in the midst of us. 

Lastly, bear this in your recollection: no outward act 
can ever compensate for deficiency of inward purity. Be- 
gin always at the centre, and work toward the circumfe- 
rence. Get the process of reform in the individual heart, 
and it will soon embrace church and state together. Let 
us lay one brick upon earth, rather than build a thousand 
castles in the air. Let us present to our country, and to 
our God, one sanctified heart, and we shall have done more 
than if we had written a thousand pamphlets, and made a 
thousand speeches, for reform in church and state. Never 
forget that each Christian is a contribution to the strength, 
the stability, the grandeur, the beauty of the empire in 
which he lives. This great change that we need, no sacra- 
ment can make, no rite or ceremony can produce. We 
can only be justified by the righteousness of Jesus — a 
righteousness without us, and sanctified by the Spirit of 
Jesus — a righteousness within us; and if so justified and 
so sanctified, the pride of the Pharisee will give place to 
the humility of the publican, and we shall enjoy the repose 



190 FORESHADOWS. 

and peace of the true Christian. Let the open brow of the 
preacher be his noblest mitre ; let his faithful preaching 
be his illuminated text. Let a holy life in every one be 
his broad and best phylactery. Let us feel that our temple 
is all space, that our ritual is holy action, that our worship 
is not form nor ceremony, but spirit and truth ; and that 
the holiest chancel that God dwells in, is the chancel of a 
sanctified and holy heart. 

So shall we realize within us that pure worship, and 
those holy worshippers, who shall crowd the millennial 
temples, and adore and worship purely and perpetually in 
the presence of God and the Lamb. 



191 



LECTURE XIII. 

THE TWO WORSHIPPERS. 

Two men went up into the temple to pray ; the one a Pharisee, and the other a 
publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank 
thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even 
as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. 
And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto 
heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. 
I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: 
for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased : and he that humbleth 
himself shall be exalted. — Luke xviii. 10-14. 

In my last I endeavoured to depict the character of the 
Pharisee. I stated that two men go into the same sanc- 
tuary, with different characters, different motives, different 
designs. The one that is the least dutiful before man, may 
seem the most so before God; and the one who has least to 
catch the admiration of the crowd, may have in his heart 
that which conciliates the approval of God. 

Two classes come to every congregation ; one, like the 
Pharisee, to parade its excellencies, and to glory in them ; 
the other, like the publican, to enumerate its sins, and to 
seek forgiveness for them. 

We read that the Pharisee, when he prayed, stood and 
prayed thus with himself. I mentioned .to you that ''with 
Jmnself belongs to standing, and not to p^'aying. It does 
not mean that he prayed secretly to himself, but that he 
stood separate, alone, and distinct by himself, in order that 
nobody might fail to sec him, and prayed aloud in the words 
which are here recorded. I mentioned this as one of the 



192 FORESHADOWS. 

characteristics of the Pharisees : they did all their good 
deeds- — if such they were — to be seen of men ; they prided 
themselves upon their holiness ; they said, to every one else, 
^' Stand aside. Don't touch me; I am holier than thou." 
This man, when he prayed, prayed — and here is the point 
of contrast with the character in which the publican prayed 
— simply as a Pharisee. He insisted upon being saved as 
a Pharisee, or not being saved at all. He required to be 
borne to heaven with his phylactery wrapped around him, 
or he would rather remain upon the earth. Like many 
other persons still : one will be saved only as a man of 
genius ; another will be saved as a man of rank ; another 
as a rich man. God will not save you as rich, renowned, 
or wise ; he will save you simply as sinners. We must ap- 
proach God not with the learning of the scholar, or with 
the robe of the Pharisee, or with pretensions of any class 
or condition whatever. We must approach him as sinners, 
or he will not treat or deal with us at all. 

The Pharisee thanked God; he began his prayer with 
thanksgiving. There was nothing wrong in that, though 
it seems more appropriate in the sinner to begin with con- 
fession. He thanked God he was not as other men. Here 
his character broke out. He drew a comparison, not be- 
tween himself and God's holy will, which would have hum- 
bled him, but he measured himself by other men, which, 
with the selfish admiration peculiar to the sect, made his 
own excellencies resplendent by contrast with their defects ; 
and in order that the picture of himself might be perfectly 
luminous, he brings in the publican as the background on 
which to make himself stand forth rich in glory, and ar- 
rayed with every excellence: ^^or even as this publican." 

Having thus stated, negatively, his character, he states 
what it is positively: ^'I fast twice in the week." God 
|:e(|uired Jiim to fast only once a year, but the Pharisee 



THE TVv^O AVORSIIirrERS. 103 

argued, '' If fasting be so good that God requires it once 
a year, I will fast twice a week. I will thus have a claim 
upon God ; I will put God in mj books ; he shall be debtor, 
and I am determined to be creditor." Here is the secret 
peril of too much ceremony. It is very easy to pay God 
double the ceremony that he requires, but you never can 
pay God up to the morality that he requires. Hence it 
happens that when a man has exceeded God's requirement 
in his ceremonial doings, he becomes self-righteous, and 
fancies that he is spotless. Whereas God requires mercy 
rather than sacrifice, and a holy life in preference to a 
splendid ceremonial. 

''I fast twice in the week.'' I explained what was the 
w^orth of fasting, and I told you that it generally happens 
that the advocates of fasting in the seasons which are, as 
they say, canonical, are the greatest patrons oi feasting 
in the seasons which they chalk off and pronounce to be 
their own. Fasting and feasting, Carnival and Lent, in- 
terchange, and act, and react against each other; whereas 
it seems to me, if fasting be conducive to our spiritual 
good, by all means fast, but if it be not so, then you are 
not called upon to fast. The fasting is for man, not man 
for the fasting. The proper course would be always to be 
temperate in all things, to let your moderation be known 
unto all men, and then there will be neither feasting nor 
fasting, but a sober, just, and righteous life. 

Then he says also, ^^I give tithes of all that I possess." 
Here again he states his merit, as if God were his debtor. 
God required tithes only of great things ; of the first- 
fruits of cattle, and the first-fruits of the field ; but he 
says, '«I give tithes of all that I possess" — not so much 
for the maintenance of the temple, as for the explanation, 
and the expression of his own self-righteousness : '' I give 
tithes of all that I possess." 

II. SBR. 17 



194 FORESHADOWS. 

I then described thePhariseee in different circumstances 
of life ; in different spheres, capacities, and characters ; 
and showed that the race is not obsolete ; that they need 
not to be dug out of buried ceremonial ; that they exist in 
all lands, in all circumstances, in all places. 

We now come to the contrast, namely, the publican. 
'^And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up 
so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, 
saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.'' The afar off. 
here relates, not so much to his^ distance from God — though 
so he stood, but it relates more to his distance from the 
holy place, where God dwelt between the cherubim. The 
Pharisee stood before the holy place, displaying all his 
righteousness, feeling that he was entitled to draw near, 
and claim approbation for what he had done ; but in a 
distant nook of the temple, in some remote, dark, and 
despised corner of it, the poor publican stood, not by him- 
self, like the Pharisee, but wherever he could get a foot- 
ing, and lifted up to God the beautiful petition, «' God be 
merciful to me a sinner." The publican had no acceptance 
with man, but he had, clearly, acceptance with God. He 
stood far from the holy place ; he stood near and dear 
to the holy God. The Pharisee retired amid the hosannas 
of the crowd ; the publican retired with the approbation 
and the accepta^nce of his God. 

Far offy however, is really the proper description of the 
state of man by nature. What has sin done to him ? It 
has borne him far off from God. Sin has made a chasm 
between God and man ; it is the rending, the splitting, the 
separating element. Wherever there is sin, there is dis- 
union ; wherever there is love, there is the bond of union 
and communion ; man with God, and man with his fellow. 
The publican felt that sin was a separating element. He 
shrunk, from a sense of his own unworthiness, from coming 



THE Tvro woRSiiirrERS. 105 

into the immediate presence of the holy, holy, holy Lord 
God of hosts ; and if we see our sins as God sees them, 
Ave shall shrink too. It is perhaps well we do not see 
ourselves absolutely as we are, as God sees us. It is well, 
perhaps, that our eye should rest more upon his infinite 
mercy in Jesus, less upon our innumerable demerits ; lest, 
resting on the latter, we should be j)lunged into despair, 
and fancy that there is no efficacy in the blood of Jesus, 
• and in the love of God, to blot them all out. 

It is said, of the publican, he would not so much as lift 
up his eyes unto heaven. The Pharisee lifted up his eyes 
and his hands too. It was frequently the practice among 
the Jews, when they prayed, to lift up their hands. Thus 
the apostle, writing to Timothy, says, '' Men lift up holy 
hands." Thus it is recorded of Solomon, that he stood 
and prayed, and lifted up his hands unto God. The Pha- 
risee lifted up his eyes in conscious pride, and spread out 
his hands, as if he could pluck a blessing from God's 
throne without asking God's leave. The poor publican 
stood afar off from the holy place, not daring to lift up 
his hands, nor even his eyes, but, like a contrite sinner, 
smiting on his breast, where the sense of his sin, his agony, 
and his separation was, seeking from God mercy and for- 
giveness through the blood of Jesus. 

I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight, was his 
thought, if not his language ; I am not worthy of the least 
of thy mercies, therefore " God be merciful to me a sinner." 
There may be outAvard deportment on the part of the 
worshipper which is hypocrisy, and nothing is more offen- 
sive to man, or more sinful in the sight of God ; but at 
the same time we must never forget, that wherever there 
is deep inward devotion, there there will be no outward 
appearance of insensibility, irreverence, or indifference. 
AVe are so constituted that the body responds to the vo- 



196 FORESHADOWS. 

litions of the mind, and as the mind is, the outward form 
and expression frequently become. And yet the deepest 
current of feeling is always the least noisy ; where there 
is the purest devotion, there there is the least pomp and 
parade ; where there is the intensest feeling of self-anni- 
hilation, and a seeking of mercy from God, there there 
will be the least attempt to be seen of men. Men pray 
most truly when they recollect that there is nobody pre- 
sent but God that heareth, and seeth, and judgeth, 
them. 

I come now, after noticing the approach of the publican, 
to his petition, '<• God be merciful to me a sinner." The 
Pharisee, just as much as the publican, addressed God. 
The Pharisee said, ^' God, I thank thee ;" the publican 
said, " God be merciful to me a sinner." They addressed 
the same name, and yet very different beings. The one 
had the idea of God as a being that connived at sin, who 
had special favouritism fer the Pharisees, and marked re- 
probation for the publican, in short, as a being who w^as 
charmed with gorgeous ceremonial ; who could be propitiated 
by the purest and the grandest music ; who was charmed 
and attracted, not by a holy life, but by holy garments 
and beautiful robes. The publican, again, had the idea of 
God as an infinitel}^ holy being, who hated sin, who was 
its consuming fire ; who could not be approached by one 
who was resolved to cherish sin in his heart, and exhibit 
that sin in his life. The one, therefore, prayed according 
to his definition of the God to whom he prayed ; the other 
prayed according to the deep convictions that were in his 
heart of the infinite holiness and purity of that Being. 

Both prayed to God, neither of them prayed to angel, 
or saint, or patriarch. Fallen as the Jews were, they 
never were guilty of this. It is very remarkable that, 
apostate as the Jewish church became, they yet continued 



THE TWO WORSIIIPrERS. ]07 

in name, and in theory at least, to recognise the God of 
Israel as the true and living God. 

AVhen the publican prayed, ho described himself, and 
described himself in terms very short, very simple, very 
expressive. He said, '«God be merciful to me, a sinner,''' 
Our translation here is defective. It is not in the original 
a sinner^ but '^ Osd:;, OAaOrizt /jml tuj diiapTcoXo)/^ God have 
mercy upon me, tlie sinner ; as if, while the Pharisee was 
contrasting himself with the publican, and pronouncing 
himself the righteous man, the publican, on the other hand, 
was contrasting himself with the best and worst of those 
around him, and sincrlino; himself out as THE sinful man: 
Have mercy upon me, the sinful man. As if he had said, 
'^Others maybe eminent for their excellence; others may 
be characterized by whatsoever things are pure, and just, 
and lovely, and of good report. I pronounce not on their 
demerits ; I cannot speak of their excellencies ; but this I 
know, that I am so shocked with the revelation of my own 
heart, that I cannot believe there is anybody besides in the 
universe so vile. I am so humbled by the apocalypse of my 
own soul, that while others give catalogues of their virtues, 
and may be distinguished by them, I will not pronounce ; 
I can only give a catalogue of my sins, and sue for mercy 
without money, without merit, and without price." 

Thus the publican presents himself here as the sinner. 
This too is the character in which we are to present our- 
selves before God. It is as sinners that God will accept 
us, blessed be his name ; it is as sinners that we may ven- 
ture to approach him. Never let go this great idea, that 
we are to go to God, and we are welcome to God, simply 
and solely in the character of sinners ; sinners seeking to 
be relieved of their load ; sinners anxious to avoid the 
judgment they have provoked; sinners, loving God, and 
hating sin, and desirous of acceptance with God. When 



198 FORESHADOWS. 

we go to God, it is not because of any worthiness in us ; 
Avorthiness in man is incompatible with grace in God. 

We are not to wait till we are better before we go to 
God. The worse the disease, the more instant the neces- 
sity for a physician ; the greater the sin, the greater our 
need of forgiveness. Sin, suflfered to remain, grows in 
strength, and spreads like the spot of the leper, till the 
w^iole body becomes tainted and destroyed with it. Along 
w^ith the sense of sin on the part of this publican, there 
was evidently a great sense of misery. Wherever sin is 
felt in the conscience, there its sister, or its eldest child, 
misery, gnaws, corrodes, and rankles in the heart. The 
two are inseparable : sin and misery. These two also are 
twins : holiness and happiness. We cannot get out of the 
misery without getting out of the sin. We never can 
breathe the air of happiness without first breathing the air 
of holiness. 

Mark, in the next place, the publican's deep humility. 
He throws himself into the hands of God ; pleads nothing, 
promises nothing, palliates nothing, excuses nothing ; he 
cries simply, God be merciful to me the sinner ; laid low, 
like Paul, when he said, '<^ What wilt thou have me to do?" 
or like the jailer of Philippi, w^hen he said, ^'Men and sirs, 
what shall I do to be saved?'' — presenting himself a great 
sinner to the great and the holy God. 

Let us mark what kind of a sinner he presents himself. 
Not as a reformed sinner, nor yet as a penitent sinner, nor 
yet as a praying sinner, but simply as the sinner. There 
is great importance in this. We do not go to God and 
seek mercy, because we are penitent sinners, or because 
we are praying sinners, or because we are improving sin- 
ners ; but we go to God, and seek mercy, simply for our- 
selves as sinners, with nothing to accompany us, nothing 
to promise, nothing to extenuate, nothing to pledge. 



THE TWO WORSHIPPERS. 199 

But he gave evidence, at the very same time he did .so, 
of genuine repentance. He felt his sin, and sorrowed at 
it. lie was conscious of his misery, and deplored it. The 
unhappiness in his heart, and the fever in his conscience, 
and the conviction that he had both grieved and vexed 
that God who is the God of mercy and beneficence, drove 
him to his presence, and made him supplicate for mercy. 

This leads us, therefore, to look at what he asked: 
<^God,'' he said, ''be merciful," or have mercy upon ''me 
a sinner." He does not ask for goodness. That is shown 
to the unfallen ; but he asks for mercy, the blessing that 
is needed by the fallen. The reason that the publican 
asked it perhaps was this, that he had learned in the syna- 
gogue, in infancy and childhood, that God was merciful ; 
and those practices that had been buried by the rubbish 
that had- accumulated in years, those recollections that had 
almost faded from his memory, rushed vividly again to his 
recollection, and made him seek for that mercy which he 
had learned of old was still with God. 

How important is early Christian instruction ! Let the 
great truths of the gospel be early rooted in the hearts of 
the young. They may go astray for ten, twenty, or thirty 
years ; but some day, when, like John Newton, they are 
tossed upon the restless sea, the black clouds above, and 
the roaring elements around, and the yawning gulf beneath, 
a truth, taught by a mother, or dropped by a teacher, may 
suddenly flash into the mind, and be the turning point of 
their everlasting happiness. This publican had lived a 
dissipated, a sinful, and a wicked life ; but he had not for- 
gotten, amid all his alienation, this blessed truth — that 
"the Lord is merciful and gracious; slow to anger, and 
plenteous in mercy." And in asking mercy, there was 
embosomed in that petition an asking for forgiveness : 
mercy is the stem ; forgiveness is the flower that blooms 



200 FORESHADOWS. 

upon it. We seek mercy in order to realize forgiveness; 
^-nd we seek forgiveness because it springs from mercy. 
How striking is that prayer in the 25th Psalm, ^'Pardon 
mine iniquity, for it is great!" where the greatness of our 
sins is a plea for the confession to God. But above all, 
the greatness of a Saviour's sacrifice is a reason, that 
never can be disregarded, why the greatest sinner should 
be forgiven of God. He seeks this mercy and forgiveness 
from God. I explained, in a former lecture, as one of 
the strongest reasons why the priest or minister should not 
be able to forgive sins, that the Being against whom only 
sin can be committed, is the only Being who alone can 
forgive it. Now w^e never commit sin against our fellow- 
man. We injure him, we vex him, we plunder him, we 
hurt him, but we do not sin against him ; we sin against 
God only. The sin that is pronounced by men to be 
against man, is only the rebounding of the sin that is seen 
in heaven to be against God. Hence David said literally, 
truly, and strictly, — using no figure of speech, — '' Against 
Thee only have I sinned, and done evil in thy sight." He 
had grieved and vexed others, injured the church, disho- 
noured his profession, destroyed life, done the greatest 
crimes; but David felt that the sin was against God, 
whereas the injury only was committed against man. 

So with us ; we have broken a law that was not made 
on earth, and that cannot be repealed on earth. We have 
sinned against God, and God alone can forgive the sin. 
And hence to man's conscience, ten thousand voices sound- 
ing from the living, or rising from the dead, coming from 
the priest,* or emerging from the church, cannot convey to 
his heart the peace and the repose that the still small 
voice communicates — "1^ even I, am he that blotteth out 
all thine iniquities, and remembereth thy transgressions 
no more for ever." 



THE TWO WORSHIPPERS. 201 

But tlicrc is an interesting question that naturally 
occurs in this passage, Avhich is, Did the publican, thus 
convinced of his sins, seek from God absolute and uncon- 
ditional mercy? How does it happen, avc naturally in- 
quire, that there is no mention of a Mediator, a Saviour, 
or sacrifice in the petition ? And here again our transla- 
tion is not full enough. The translation always errs, when 
it errs, on the safer side ; it rather comes short than 
exceeds the meaning of God's word. Never forget, in 
reading the Bible, that the strongest language used in our 
English translation never exceeds, but always comes be- 
neath the vigour, the force, the expressiveness of the 
original. It is in this instance especially so. The Greek 
word is ildaO-qri Every one that knows the elements of 
the Greek tongue knows that this word means. Have 
mercy by sacrifice, or more strictly and properly trans- 
lated, it is, God make atonement for me a sinner. The 
literal and strict translation of the prayer I have now 
read, is not, God be merciful ; but it is, God make atone- 
ment for me a sinner. 

Why did the publican use this form of speech ? He 
used it because he had seen, morning and evening, the 
lamb slain as the daily sacrifice ; because he had seen this 
lamb slain once a year as the Passover-lamb ; because he 
felt and knew that God was just and holy, as well as 
merciful, and that he would no more exercise his mercy 
irrespective of sacrifice, than he could exercise his justice 
or holiness in forgiving him. Every truth, every type, 
every ceremony, every rite among the Jews, Avas calcu- 
lated to impress upon the Israelites this great lesson: 
'^ Without shedding of blood there can be no remission." 
Therefore the poor publican felt that all the bulls and 
goats that could be slain, could not take away his sins ; he 
felt that the morning and evening Iamb was an utterly 



202 FORESHADOWS. 

inadequate atonement for him, and in the exercise of a 
faith strong, beautiful, and scriptural, the faith of Abra- 
ham, of IsaaCj and of Jacob, he looked through the 
sacrifices as the telescopes that helped him to see the true 
sacrifice of the lamb of God slain from the foundation of 
the world. Therefore he cried, in the agony of his con- 
victions, Lord ! the sacrifices I have are utterly inade- 
quate; I cannot place my trust a[nd confidence in them ; 
do thou make the great, the promised sacrifice ; give thy 
Son to be a propitiation for my sins, and for the sins of 
all that believe. 

And here again we are taught that there is no such 
thing as absolute mercy. Ask mercy from God in any 
other name, or through any other channel, or without 
name or channel at all, and you ask the descent of the 
consuming fire. Ask mercy and forgiveness in the name, 
and through the mediation, of the only sacrifice and 
Saviour, and God may be untrue to his word, sooner than 
fail to bestow mercy and forgiveness exceeding abundantly 
above all that you can ask, or think, or desire. You may 
ask, perhaps. Why was any sacrifice necessary? This 
sacrifice that Christ made operated no change upon God. 
Many persons have the very common, but very erroneous 
notion, that by the death of Christ something w^as changed 
on the part of God, so that God loves them he otherwise 
hated, and pours down forgiveness upon them whom natu- 
rally and of his own mind he would rather have crushed 
and destroyed. But such a notion as this proceeds from 
the supposition that God is liable to change, that he is not 
the same to-day that he was yesterday, and will be for 
ever. No such change has been effected on God ; the 
change is needed upon us. But you may say, why could not 
God let his forgiving mercy descend upon us without such 
intervention ? I answer, because justice had weighed us 



THE TWO WORSIIirrERS. 203 

in the scales, and declared that we were wanting ; God's 
truth had issued the accents, irrevocable as God's throne 
itself, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." God's holi- 
ness by its nature cannot admit the rebel against it, and 
the violator of it, into its bosom. Then the question was, 
the question that perplexed all but the wisdom of God, 
How shall God continue to be that just and holy God, the 
true God that he has been, is, and must be, and yet forgive 
sinners and save them ? The answer to it is in the cross. 
The solution of the difficulty is in the death of Christ. 
Christ bare our sins, exhausted our curse, obeyed our law, 
did what we had not done, suffered what we should have 
suffered, and now God can look upon the believer just as 
he looks upon Christ himself; and Christ has become the 
mediator between God and man — the channel that extends 
from earth to the skies, sustained by the justice, the 
holiness, and truth of God, and down which, in full har- 
mony with the requirements of these attributes of his 
nature, God's mercy may come to bless, forgive, and do us 
good. Hence, in approaching God, we may not only ask 
mercy in the name of Christ, but we may tell him that the 
atonement has been made that the publican required ; we 
may ask him now to be faithful and just to forgive, as well 
as to be merciful ; for we are told, in the Epistle of John, 
" If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive 
us our sins." In other words, if God were to refuse for- 
giveness to a poor sinner that asks that forgiveness in the 
name of Jesus, he would not only be unmerciful, but he 
would be unjust, he would be untrue. But he is true to 
his promises, he is just in his dealings, he is merciful in 
his forgiveness. Thus the mercy of God is sustained by 
those attributes that are the pillars of the universe, and 
God may as soon cease to be, as cease to be merciful to 
the sinner that seeks mercy in tlie name and through the 



204 FOPvESHADOYfS. 

merits of the Lord Jesus Christ. And hence, throughout 
the whole Bible, the great difficulty, apparently, experi- 
enced by the sacred penmen, is to convince sinners that 
God completely forgives sin. We judge of God very 
much by ourselves. Because we cannot thoroughly for- 
give an offender, we conclude that God does not thoroughly 
forgive us. But his language is, ^« Remission of sins." 
'' Sending away our sins." ^^Not remembering our tres- 
passes." "Not imputing to them their trespasses." 
^i Casting them behind his back." "Blotting them out 
like a cloud, and like a thick cloud;" till the prophet, 
overwhelmed by a sense of the magnitude of his mercy, 
exclaims, "Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth 
iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant 
of his heritage ? he retaineth not his anger for ever, be- 
cause he delighteth in mercy." 

Thus, then, we have seen the Pharisee, clothed in his 
self-righteous robes, draw^ near to God and plead his cere- 
monial performances as the ground of his acceptance be- 
fore him. We have seen the publican, on the other hand, 
singling himself out as "the sinner," signally and empha- 
tically so, in the midst of that temple, drawing near to 
God, while standing at a distance from the holy place, and 
asking of him mercy; and asking that mercy not because 
of any thing he was, or is, or could be, not because God 
had promised it, but obviously on the ground and through 
the merits of an atonement adequate to satisfy the justice 
of God and the necessities of man. Then it is beautifully 
added, "One went down justified rather than the other." 
The Hebrews very often expressed comparatively what was 
an absolute negative ; and knowing that this idiom pre- 
vailed among the Jews, the sacred writer no doubt meant 
by this passage, "the one went down justified, and the 
other not." I have no doubt that there is an allusion not 



THE TWO WORSIIirPERS. 205 

merely to the outward fact of God justifying the one and 
rejecting the other, but also to the circumstance that the 
one retired with a sweet sense of tlic forgiveness of God, 
and the other with the arrow rankling in his heart, remind- 
ing him that he was still the unforgiven and unjustified 
criminal. To the outward beholder the Pharisee was all 
that was beautiful in the eye of God ; yet the publican 
alone had acceptance. The Pharisee left amid the accla- 
mations of the crowd ; the publican with the approbation 
of his God. The Pharisee retired to occupy the chief 
sedilia of the synagogue ; the publican retired to find a 
seat in the kingdom of heaven. The name of the one 
sounded through the temple, as that of a great, a learned, 
and holy ecclesiastic ; that of the other was whispered in 
heaven as a child of God, and an heir of all the promises. 
Finally, our Lord winds up the whole of this parable by 
stating, '« Every one that exalteth himself shall be hum- 
bled, and every one that humbleth himself shall be ex- 
alted." How true is this ! How legible in the history of 
the world! She that said, ^'I sit as a queen, and shall 
see no sorrow," exalted herself. The cup was put into her 
hand, and the next day she was desolate on the earth. 
Peter said, '(> Though all men should deny thee, yet will 
not I." Before the cock had crowed, Peter had denied 
his Lord thrice. When our Lord asked the disciples, 
'<• Can ye drink of the cup that I drink of, and be baptized 
with the baptism that I am baptized with?" they answered, 
''Yea, Lord;" and they all slumbered and slept in the 
garden of Gethsemane, and forsook him at the cross, when 
the hour of his sorrow was the darkest. So true is it that 
''God rcsisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the hum- 
ble;" lowers all human glory, levels all human pride, 
makes that nation highest that lies lowest at his footstool, 

II. SER. IS 



206 FORESHADOWS. 

brings down the miglity from their seats, and exalts only 
them that are of low degree. 

'^ The humble shall be exalted." But, it may be asked, 
What is humility? There is often the pretence of it, 
which is more hateful to God than the pride of the Pha- 
risee. Never is pride so hateful as when it casts off the 
outward phylactery of the Pharisee, and puts on the mean 
robe, and speaks in the sad tone, of the poor publican. 
Never is sin so horrible as when it is clothed in the garb 
of religion ; and no where has greater wickedness been 
perpetrated than under holy roofs, and with the name of 
God upon the lips of them that did it. True humility is 
not a cringing prostration of the soul before another man, 
because he is rich, or great, or learned, or noble, or royal. 
Nor is that humility which cringes and prostrates itself 
before the saints and the Virgin Mary, and has constructed 
the gigantic corporation headed by the hierachy of the 
church of Rome. True humility courts not the smile 
(though it is thankful when it has it) of the great, and it 
fears not their frown. It leans not upon the mighty, be- 
cause it leans upon the Lord. It bows itself to the dust 
before the least word from heaven ; it stands erect in its 
conscious equality before the mightiest of human kind. 
Humility has often been a^rrayed in the most grotesque, in 
the most extravagant and ridiculous garbs. The mere ape 
of it has lived in solitudes, and perched for years upon 
lofty pillars, dwelt in dark caves, and worn hair-cloth 
dresses, has mutilated the body, starved and stinted the 
flesh, muttered long prayers, gone on weary pilgrimages, 
and passed the night in wearisome vigils, and all the while 
looked around to watch if anybody was admiring so won- 
derful a model of humility before God and man. This is 
the mockery of it, the hypocrisy that assumes its guise, 
not the reality. This is the very humxility that has ga- 



THE TV>'0 WORSTirrrERS. 207 

thercd the fagots, kindled the liames, burned the saints ; 
that has scourged Europe with religious wars, pronounced 
conscience a crime, reason a folly; that has declared the 
child's smile was sin if it occurred upon the Sabbath, and 
that the expression of the young heart — its loud and merry 
laughter — was inconsistent with real and true religion. 
This is the mockery, the forgery, the pretence, not the 
reality. True humility is of another stamp. It calls no 
man master, and seems to worldly men to be pride, but it 
is only its deep deference to God that enables it to set man 
in his own lowly place. True humility prefers mercy to 
sacrifice ; does good, and is silent ; bears suffering, and is 
patient ; rises above schoolmen, priest, and tradition; looks 
to Christ, sits at his feet, and learns only from him. True 
humility will bid the priest, the church, the minister, and 
the schoolmen remain, as Abraham his servants, at the 
bottom of the mount, while it rises to the loftiest crag of 
that mount, and deals alone with God, and holds commu- 
nion with him only. True humility counts holiness far 
more splendid than robes and phylacteries, prefers benefi- 
cence to ceremony, lives a divine life, and is not satisfied 
with merely talking about it and praising it. It means 
not a hair-cloth shirt, nor w^hines when it speaks, nor puts 
on a sour and repulsive countenance, nor fancies that God 
can only be approached, and religion spoken of, in sepul- 
chral tones. But it does not seem to men to fast. It fasts 
before God. There is nothing of display and parade that 
would indicate it w^as of earth, every thing to prove that 
it is implanted within from its Father in heaven. The 
kingdom of God is not meat, nor drink, nor phylactery, 
nor robe, nor rite, nor ceremony, nor outward appearance, 
nor peculiar tone, nor strange conduct ; but it is righteous- 
ness, and peace, and joy in tlie Holy Ghost. Do not afiect 
humility. The moment humility is spoken of by him that 



208 FORESHADOWS. 

lias it, that moment it is gone. It is like those delicate 
things which dissolve the instant they are touched. You 
must seek out the violet ; it does not, like the poppy, thrust 
itself upon your notice. The moment humility tells you, 
-'1 am here," there is an end of it. I repeat it, pride in 
the garb of humility, is worse than pharisaic pride ; but 
humility revealed in the sight of God only, calling no man 
master upon earth in things divine, is beautiful and holy. 
What an example have we of humility in the character 
of our blessed Lord ! His humility alone indicates that he 
was more than man. Christ was possessed, as God, of the 
treasures of infinite wisdom. Suppose Christ a mere man ! 
Do you think that a mere man, capable of explaining every 
mystery, of solving every problem, of satisfying philoso- 
phers on those very topics about which they w^ere most 
anxiously inquiring, would have so humbled himself as 
always to have been silent on every topic from which eclat 
could be gained. Jesus proclaimed the truths w^hich man 
hated, and sought not to conciliate popularity ; he was 
silent where human curiosity would have been gratified, 
and eloquent only upon that by which human hearts could 
be sanctified. Truly he was meek and lowly who could do 
so. Humility is oftener expressed in not saying than in 
saying, in silence than in eloquence. Christ had omnipo- 
tent power. Now, if I had omnipotent power, or a tithe 
of it, so to speak, were intrusted to me, I am sure I should 
display wonders before this crowd, and miracles before 
that ; and I should be so elated, that like him that sitteth 
in the temple of God, showing himself as if he were God, 
I should try to do the same. Our blessed Lord had om- 
nipotent power ; he might have performed miracles that 
would have dazzled the universe with their splendour, or 
awed men's souls into abject submission and subjection by 
their terror. But he did not do so. He showed omnipo- 



THE TWO WORSIlirPERS. oQf) 

tent power only where a pedestal Avas required for for^^iv- 
ing mercy to shine forth most luminously. There was no 
excess, no prodigality of power. What an instance of 
patience when he w\as taunted by the scribes and Phari- 
sees ! " He saved others ;" an admission that he possessed 
vast pov/er. What humility, what self-annihilation, what 
abasement in his hearing the additional remark, '' Himself 
he cannot save !" Can we be conscious of possessing 
power, and yet conceal it, when to do so is for the glory 
of God ? Are we conscious of possessing talents, and yet, 
because silence is duty, say nothing about them ? Is it 
not too true, that we arc prone to pretend to more talent 
than we have, and to deny to our neighbour that which he 
really has ? Our pride, with all our pretences to humility, 
breaks out upon the right hand and upon the left ; and 
nothing so shows the depth of our ruin as one atom of 
pride remaining in a sinner yAio has rebelled against God, 
and made himself worthy of eternal wo. 

Learn, then, from this parable, the lesson that we are 
saved by grace ; that the ground of our salvation is nothing 
in us, nothing by us, nothing through us, but a complete 
righteousness and sacrifice w^ithout us. We must not for- 
get this. The ever-present sense of it is the ground of our 
happiness, ay, and is the ground-spring of true humility. 
By grace we are saved. Our sins are our own, and we 
cannot be proud of them ; we cannot be proud of our vir- 
tues, for they are not our own. We cannot be saved by 
our merits, for we have none. If saved at all, w^e must 
be saved by grace. The greatest philanthropist, the most 
honoured, the most upright, the most exalted, must be 
saved precisely on the same footing, and in the same 
character, as the thief on the cross, or the greatest and 
guiltiest criminal. There is no royal or noble road to 
heaven. All must lie down before God, prostrate on the 



210 FORESHADOWS. 

same level of common ruin ; and, precious tliouglit, all 
may look up to the great height of promised glory, and be 
sure of obtaining it in and through Christ Jesus. There 
is no sinner on earth who has any reason or any right to 
despair. The God who forgave the publican is the same 
to-day that he was then. It is true that he still delighteth 
in mercy. He is still, as in the days of Abraham, and in 
the days of the publican, '' the Lord God, merciful and 
gracious, long-suiFering, forgiving iniquity, transgression, 
and sin." It is true now, as then, that we have not a 
High-Priest that cannot be touched with a feeling of our 
infirmities, but one who was tempted in all points like as 
we are. Let us therefore — on this ground — because we 
have such a High-Priest, come boldly to the throne of 
grace, to obtain mercy and to find grace to help us in 
time of need. 

Let us learn what true prayer is. Many pray from the 
heart who, I think, pray not in beautiful words. Prayer 
is not much speaking ; it is not an elegant form ; it is not 
the most exquisitely balanced antithesis ; it is not telling 
God something that he does not know; it is still less 
making prayer the channel for preaching to those that are 
present. It is the simple cry of a broken heart to that 
God who can have mercy and forgiveness. It is a re- 
markable proof of this, that almost all the forms of prayer 
in the Bible, accepted before God, were extremely short 
and simple; and that exquisite model that our blessed 
Lord taught us, is the shortest and simplest of all. No- 
thing seems to me so harsh as argument in prayer. Very 
fine language, very beautiful metaphors, very poetic dic- 
tion, are all extremely pretty in a book of poetry, but 
abominable when used in prayer to the great God. What- 
ever fault there may be in one part in the Church of Eng- 
land liturgy, (and I do think its strong language in its 



THE TWO WORSHirPERS. oji 

baptismal service alike unhappy and even perilous,) its 
general confession and litany are exquisite models of true 
prayer. What can be simpler than, '' We have done those 
things which we ought not to have done" — every word a 
monosyllable; ^^we have left undone those things which 
we ought to have done." The words are all simple, pure 
Saxon, so that the poorest Sunday-school child can under- 
stand them, and the greatest philosopher may bow down 
his spirit and use them. Why is this? Not so much 
because of any original power in those who wrote, but 
because the Reformers were imbued with scriptural lan- 
guage, and thoroughly acquainted with Bible truth ; and 
if that liturgy were but half its present length, and the 
parts that are justly objected to rescinded, it would be all 
but perfect. But w^e too can pray, in words which the 
Holy Ghost teacheth. Let us learn from this Bible not 
only what are our wants and necessities, what are God's 
mercies and forgivenesses, but also how to speak to God. 

There will arrive a blessed time, when no more prayer 
will be practised. Praise will be the employment of the 
blessed. Neither the Pharisee's self-praise, nor the pub- 
lican's deep compunction, will be heard. There will be no 
wants to feel, and no sins to be forgiven. There will be 
only reasons for adoration, thanksgiving, and glory to 
Him who sits upon the throne. In proportion as we arrive 
at this experience now, we anticipate the blessed future. 



212 



LECTURE XIV. 

THE GOOD SAMARITAN. 

And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, 
and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, 
and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down a 
certain priest that way : and when he saw him, he passed by on the other 
side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on 
him, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he jour- 
neyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on 
him, and went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and 
set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 
And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them 
to the host, and said unto him. Take care of him ; and whatsoever thou 
spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. "Which now of these 
three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves ? 
And he said. He that showed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, 
and do thou likewise. — Luke x. 30-37. 

I DO not think that the questioner here, namely, the 
lawyer, had any captious or cavilling design in putting the 
question to Jesus, <' What must I do to inherit eternal life ?" 
It is true, the expression occurs, '« tempted him;" but the 
word ^' tempt" does not necessarily mean to influence, by 
the application of evil motives, or spreading out iniquitous 
prospects; it is, strictly, ascertaining what depth was in 
him, what response he could give, what wisdom he might 
manifest ; and so far, therefore, as we can gather from the 
whole parable,, he seems to have put the question from a 
right motive, in a right spirit, in the most respectful, 
earnest, and appropriate form, "What must I do to inherit 
eternal life ?" And if the lawyer put this question, then we 
ought to put the same question still, for of all questions, it 



THE GOOD SAMARITAN. 213 

is the weightiest, it is the question of questions. There 
are few that do not instantly acquiesce in what I now state ; 
but the acquiescence that rests upon the surface of tlic 
mind, and the deei3 response that springs from the depths 
of the heart, are two totally distinct things. I believe 
many slide down to the depths of perdition, consenting to 
every thing, and feeling and accepting and disputing no- 
thing. The question, then, is a momentous one, ''What 
must I do to inherit eternal life?" Many far less moment- 
ous agitate and vex us ; well do we all know this. Many 
far less important are asked by us every day, and answers 
sought to them from every avenue and at every hazard : 
and yet our condition is not as if Ave were born into the 
w^orld possessed of eternal life, and had only to take means 
and prescriptions for maintaining it : but if there be any one 
statement in the Bible clearer than others, it is this, that 
we are born into the world without eternal life. The soul 
is already a lost thing, and this we must feel and act on, 
before we can be saved. Many persons have the idea that 
they must be guilty of some great crime before they can 
forfeit heaven. That is not the fact : it is already for- 
feited ; it is the first axiom in Christianity, that we are 
lost, that naturally we have turned our backs upon heaven, 
and our faces to destruction : by our sins we have lost the 
one, and by our deliberate choice we have embraced and 
accepted the other. And if eternal life is already lost, 
w^e ought to have evidence that we have found it, before 
we can have any thing like peace within, or bright hopes 
before us. I do not here stop to question whether this be 
just, or generous, or consistent with our ideas of God: this 
Is the metaphysics of the question, with which I have not 
any concern: it is a fact which we ought to attend to, not 
a subtle dispute which we ought to try to solve. We have 
lost life; we have now to find it. Men and brethren, let 



214 FORESHADOWS. 

US ask, are we still dead in trespasses and sins, or are we 
alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord? It is no 
nriore than the just and simple statement of our condition 
by nature in the sight of God, that we are born in the 
eclipse, that we are lost by nature. There is not a babe 
that comes into the world, from the babe of her w^ho sways 
the sceptre over lands on which the sun never sets, to the 
babe of the humblest, lowliest, poorest mother in her do- 
minions, that is not born a child of wrath, by nature lost, 
ruined, doomed. But there is riot a child from the one I 
have mentioned, at the height of society, to the other that 
lies in the very depths of poverty, ruin, degradation, and 
sin, for whom a Saviour is not offered, and to whom the 
offers of everlasting mercy and acceptance are not, hond 
jide^ made this day through the blood and sacrifice and 
death of the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of 
the world. 

When this most important question was asked, how beau- 
tifully did our Lord respond to it ! He assumed all that 
was good in the position of the questioner, and he took for 
granted that the question was, just as it ought to have been, 
prompted by the purest motives, and contemplating the 
best ends. You must all have noticed in the conduct of our 
Lord, how willing he seems to be to pass by the flaw that 
cleaves to man, and to lay hold of the least remnant of ex- 
cellency that is in him, and to nurse, and foster, and che- 
rish it. He who knew the questioner's heart might have 
reproved him, but he who knew what was in man, and needed 
not that any should tell him what was in man, knew^ that 
the gentle consolatory treatment might teach the lesson 
W'ith no less efficacy, and with much less offence to the 
prejudices of him that needed it. If we can convey a 
truth to mankind by awaking their preferences and extin- 
guishing their prejudices, we should try to do so: if it be 



THE GOOD SAMARITAN. 215 

necessary that wo should crush the one, and scatter tlie 
other, we must not hesitate ; but, if it be possible to put 
the strongest truths in vehicles the best and most pene- 
trating — if it be possible not to blunt the arrow, but while 
it is sharp as sharp it can be, to feather it with love and 
Christian affection, we may expect that what is spoken in 
love will not only pierce the deepest, but remain also the 
longest. It is not always that men are disposed to ask the 
question, ''What shall I do to inherit eternal life?" When 
every thing goes smoothly with us, when all is sunshine 
over and around and before us, then we do not feel the 
want that is within us : but we know that while a man 
stands upon the earth, and holds by something above him, 
as long as the prop, or the chair, or the stool on which he 
stands, remains firm, he does not know whether he has a 
firm hold of what is above him or not ; but when the prop, 
or whatever supports him, is swept away, then he comes to 
learn whether his grasp of that which is above him be firm, 
or not. So it is in our Christian experience. As long as 
earthly props remain, the feet stand firm, our hold of hea- 
ven is not put to the test ; but when all things visible are 
swept away — when ties, and bonds, and supports which 
keep us steady, are all snapt in sunder — when the fortune 
on which we leaned, the prospects on which we rested, the 
firm rock on which we reposed, and on which our feet were 
placed, are all carried from beneath us, then we truly learn 
whether our hold of the throne is strong, and our grasp 
of things unseen such as may bear the stress and pressure 
of another crisis. We know not when such a crisis may 
come, in individual life, or in national experience, ''lie 
that cannot walk with the footmen, how shall he run with 
horsemen?" He whoso hold is so feeble, now that he is 
ready to let go, how will that support him when he has 
nothing to lean upon except God, and that God not his? 



216 • FOKESHADOWS. 

When the lawyer asked the question, our Lord answered 
him immediately, and referred him to the great standard 
of all appeal and only source of all such information, 
'^ Yv^hat is written in the law ? How readest thou ?" I have 
before made the very important remark, that the greatest 
testimony to the excellence and perfection of Scripture is 
this simple fact, that the Author of the Scripture ever 
appealed to it for answers to all questions that were ad- 
dressed to him. Our blessed Lord was asked the question, 
What must I do to inherit eternal life ? He might have 
answered, I am one in whom is all the fulness of Deity, 
and in whose mind are the depths of omniscience ; I tell 
you, that you are to do this, or to believe that. But you 
must have noticed, in reading the Gospels, how our Lord 
sinks, if I may so speak, the omniscience of his knowledge 
in order to exalt and glorify the fulness and perfection of 
his own blessed word. There is, I think, scarcely a single 
occasion when our Lord answered from the depths of his 
own knowledge : on almost every occasion, his answer was, 
'' Search the Scriptures," <^^ How is it written ?" '' Have 
ye never read?" and so on; teaching us how perfect must 
that book be, to which Omniscience constantly appealed ; 
how full those springs must be, from v/hich the hand of 
God draws continual supplies. It is the Divine Author of 
the book, stamping on its page the imprimatur of his ap- 
proval, and pronouncing that which was so full of wisdom, 
when he drew from it, to be the great fountain, and 
standard, and treasure, to which we in these days must 
even apply still. And if, let us mark, the Old Testament, 
which alone was written at that time when our Lord thus 
appealed to it, was sufficient to give an answer to that 
question of the lawyer, then how much more are the Old 
and New Testaments together sufficient to give an answer 
to every question of ours ! Let us then appeal constantly 



THE GOOD SAMArJTAN. 217 

where our Lord sent the lawyer, for an answer to the 
question of questions — the word of God: our rule of faith 
is not what the best men say, nor wdiat the most men say, 
but what the Bible says. We must look not to the Bible 
in the light of our creed, but we must look to our creed 
in the light of the Bible. We must take no Popish pre- 
scriptions or synodic decisions as infallible: ^'to the law 
and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this 
Avord, it is because there is no light in them." "If we or 
an angel from heaven preach to you any other doctrine, 
let him be accursed." And the standard by which we are 
to try the angel's eloquence, or an apostle's reasoning, is 
assumed to be the book which is the plainest of all books 
— the word of the living God. It is delightful to see that 
this book is beginning to be more demanded. When, ac- 
cording to a promise I had made three or four months 
before, to be at Manchester at a meeting of the Bible So- 
ciety, held in that immense city, I saw an assembly in the 
Free Trade Hall, the largest room in the kingdom, con- 
taining at the lowest calculation between six and seven 
thousand persons, of all sects, denominations, and parties ; 
and such has been the interest felt in Bible circulation at 
Manchester, that four thousand tickets were said to have 
been applied for, which were refused from the want of 
space to hold them even in that gigantic building. The 
number of Bibles circulated in Manchester during the last 
two or three years is beyond belief. It seems as if some 
wave from the fountain of life had come upon the hearts 
of men ; and thousands that were satisfied without a Bible, 
are now determined to possess one. And who does not 
rejoice in it? While much around us is desolate and 
gloomy, who is he that will refuse to accept this as a 
token of good, and as some evidence that God, even our 
own God, has not forsaken us ? 

II. SER. l'*^ 



218 FORESHADOWS. 

But I proceed to wbat is strictly the narrative before 
me. Our Lord having put the question, <•' How readest 
thou?" the lawyer showed that he had read the Scriptures 
from the commencement to the close, and, by his answer 
on this occasion, quoted Deut. vi. 5, and gave in few words 
a perfect summary ■ of the whole law. And this is the 
more remarkable as our Lord himself, when he gave a 
summary of the law, gave that one, " Thou shalt love the 
Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, 
and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength" — that 
is the first table ; " and thy neighbour as thyself" — that is 
the second. This lawyer had evidently a sagacious in- 
tellect ; I have no doubt he was skilled in his profession ; 
he had clearly a mind capable of generalizing to an emi- 
nent degree ; for without the teaching of our Lord, he had 
learned the epitome of all moral obligations, and that con- 
densed epitome of the whole law of God, '<• loving God, 
and one's neighbour as oneself." Love is the law in a 
monosyllable. This lawyer, by the keenness of his re- 
searches, had found out that the whole law might be com- 
pressed into a nutshell, and that nutshell, '' Thou shalt 
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy 
soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength; and 
thy neighbour as thyself." How did our Lord respond to 
this ? He said, '^ Thou hast answered right; this do, and 
thou shalt live." Mark the infinite wisdom of this; 
'^ Your creed, my friend, is perfect ; you have only one 
thing that remains ; embody that creed in your future 
conduct ; your knowledge is admirable — ^just convert it into 
action. You have plenty of light ; now let it shine and 
glow through every act of your life and every utterance 
of your lips. Your answer is admirable ; only let your 
head, and your heart, and your hand be in perfect har- 
mony, and the whole law will attest that you have fulfilled 



THE GOOD SAMARITAN. 019 

it." This was putting the demands of tlic law just as 
they should be put. The lawyer's heart was touched ; a 
spark from the altar was falling into it ; disquiet and dis- 
turbance were thrown into it. «« Willing to justify him- 
self," he felt the moment our Lord said, Your knowledge 
is most clear, and if your daily life be the efflux of that 
knowledge, your character will be most perfect : the instant 
our Lord spoke about practising what he knew, the lawyer 
was '' willing to justify himself." Why "willing to justify 
himself?" Because the conviction flashed through his con- 
science that he needed justification. He felt, the instant 
that he heard the words of Jesus, there was something 
wrong; and anxious to justify himself to himself, he 
answered, <' Who is my neighbour?" What did this 
prove? By ^asking, who is my neighbour? he showed, 
poor man, that his love was simply mechanism; love of 
that description which might be sounded by a plumb-line, 
w^eighed in scales, carved out into portions, love of that pe- 
culiar description which inquires what should be its limits ? 
how far it should run? where it should stop short? from 
whom it should shrink ? on v/hom it should be concentrated, 
and glow and burn ? Whenever a man asks how much love 
he is to have ? how far that love is to go ? we may be quite 
sure he has misapprehended the nature of love altogether, 
and confounded Christianity with rites, religion with rubrics, 
the substance of the gospel with its mere shell and ceremo- 
nial. Our Lord's reply which he made to this question was 
just, beautiful, appropriate, and striking. The tendency of 
this reply is plainly to show, that it is not the object of 
our love about which we are to busy ourselves, but the 
love itself. Love thinks not if its object be genuine, it 
will show itself where occasion requires it. Hence the 
history which our Lord gave is intended to turn the law- 
yer's attention from the object of his love, and fix it on 



220 FORESHADOWS. 

tlie analysis of the substance and origin of his love. lie 
therefore gave that very beautiful parable on which I now 
proceed to enter. "A certain man," he said, ^^ went down 
to Jericho ; and fell among thieves, who stripped him of 
his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him 
half dead." To go to the capital was then, as now, to go 
up ; to leave the capital was to go down : just as we say, 
in modern railways, the down line is that which goes out 
of the capital, the up line is that by which you approach 
the capital. So the road to Jericho was the down road. 
This road, according to ancient historians, was a rugged, 
precipitous, and dangerous road, stretching through a 
great wilderness, and, in the days of Jerome, in the fourth 
century, frequented by thieves and robbers of the worst 
description. The whole parable is topographically cor- 
rect ; its geography is perfect : no one acquainted with 
the road would fail to see the force of the description. It 
would appear that the traveller was there met by robbers, 
stripped of his propertj^, and left half dead. We read 
that ii by chance a certain priest went that way, and when 
he saw him he passed by on the other side." Some one 
will say, Chance ! why I thought you had frequently made 
the remark, that there was no such thing as chance in the 
providence of God, or in the arrangements of the gospel? 
It is perfectly true, there is none; and the word here 
translated chance, ought not to be so translated : it is 
literally, ^<^by coincidence" a certain priest passed by that 
way ; ^. e, by one event falling in with another ; a person 
w^ho could not avoid falling in with a person who needed 
help ; him that had meeting, by a happy coincidence, him 
that had not. The priest had been serving in the temple, 
he had been attending at the morning or evening sacrifice, 
and he passed from Jerusalem to his parsonage, or his 
manse, or house where he lived, probably at Jericho ; and 



THE GOOD SAMARITAN. ooi 

•• Avlicn he saw him," it is said, ^'he passed by on the other 
side." He had not learned that God '^will have mercy 
rather than sacrifice ;" he had not yet felt that to pour oil 
into the wounds of the sufferer, is noble and more accept- 
able to God than to raise the richest incense, or to perform 
with the most mechanical precision all the rites and sacri- 
fices of the temple worship. So has it been still, with 
priests of every church and every communion. Religion 
is prone to become a religion of rites and ceremonies, of 
fasting and feasting, and not a religion of mercy, of love, 
and of good-will. Even on the Sabbath we are to visit the 
sick, and minister to the wants of the poor. The Sabbath 
is made for man, not man for the Sabbath ; and he who 
refuses to do a deed of mercj^ because it is the Sabbath, 
so far approximates to Rome, and ceases to be a Protestant, 
for he makes man made for the Sabbath, instead of the 
Sabbath made for man. I saw a painful instance of this 
in Scotland. A lady who had heard that her father was 
dying, wished to reach the dying bed of that father as soon 
as she could. They have made it a law in Scotland, that 
there shall be no Sunday travelling on the railway. Per- 
haps they have gone too far. I think if they would allow 
the mail train, just as the mail coach used to go through 
Scotland in old time, it would have been a more excellent 
way. Yet good men think otherwise. But here was this 
person who wished to reach her dying father : she came 
to the railway station on the Sabbath morning, but, though 
she explained the circumstances, and corroborated her 
statement by evidence which was irresistible, these thorough 
rubricians persevered in refusing even to send an express 
train lest the Sabbath should be violated, and thought it 
better that a daughter should be kept from a dying father, 
than that such a rule as they had made should be infringed. 
It seems to me that these people did more to injure tlie 



222 FORESHADOWS. 

great cause that tliey and we have at heart, than all the 
newspaper attacks that have been written or may be written 
on the subject. When the ritual is strained beyond the 
spirit of the law, and comes to the point that man is made 
for the Sabbath, not the Sabbath for man, then I believe 
that such decision will do more to propagate railway tra- 
velling on the Sabbath day than all the speeches made in 
defence of it. Let us never forget that ^'the Sabbatii was 
made for man, not man for the Sabbath;" that God will 
have mercy rather than sacrifice, and that no precision in 
the observance of a ceremony can atone for the violation 
or neglect of a great moral duty. 

The priest passed by on the other side. It appears that 
a Levite followed : and this Levite went a step further 
than the priest ; he went and looked upon the person who 
was wounded, and robbed, and plundered, but passed on 
the other side. The priest passed by, fearful lest his feel- 
ings should be disturbed. The Levite, of not so hard 
metal, drew near the wounded man, and looked upon him; 
he felt little more than the priest, he went on and left 
him : the one showed his cruelty by not going near him ; 
the other showed greater cruelty, if possible, by examining 
the depths of the suffering, and yet passing on and letting 
him alone. I have no doubt these men had excuses. Men 
never sin without an excuse, and that must be a very fla- 
grant act which has no excuse. I have no doubt they 
said, ^"^Poor man, he is too far goixe ; I cannot help him." 
Or the other said, " Our time is extremely valuable ; we 
shall be two minutes too late for such a synod, or such a 
priestly act ; or we shall be too late for lighting the lamps, 
or tending the lights, or attending to the great ceremonies 
of the temple ; or if we stop to take care of this man, the 
very same robbers m^ay seize upon us, and plunder, and 
almost destroy us : 'Discretion is the better part of va- 



THE GOOD SAMARITAN. 223 

lour;' wc will therefore pass on, and let lilm alone." I 
have no doubt this Avas their reasoning. But there came 
a third person. God's eye was on the sufferer, and he 
raised up one, who Avould look upon and pity him. A Sa- 
maritan passed by, and that Samaritan had compassion 
upon him. The Samaritan's time was just as precious as 
the priest's ; the Samaritan had just as much reason to 
fear the robbers as the priest; and the poor Samaritan 
knew that whatever he did for that man, he should get no 
thanks. He w^as a Samaritan ; the man was a Jew ; and 
there were no dealings between the Jews and the Sama- 
ritans : yet he bound up his wounds, and shoAved him every 
attention, though he knew very well that he should only 
be treated with contumely and scorn for his pains ; and in 
the face of all fears, the Samaritan approached him, and 
pitied him — and the look of a pitying eye is full of balm 
— and bound up his w^ounds, and healed him, and took 
care of him. That Samaritan's heart was larger than the 
sect to Avhich he belonged ; its noble pulses beat and 
pushed their tide outward to the limits of humanity itself; 
the man rose above the Samaritan ; the Christian merged 
in its mercy and beneficence the sectarian ; and he looked 
at suffering humanity, neither from this mountain nor that, 
but from the mountain of mercy, love, and sympathy, from 
which all mankind should look each man at his fellow, and 
each nation even at its enemies. 

The lawyer was thus taught the great lesson of which 
he seemed to be ignorant. '^ Which of them was neigh- 
bour to him that fell among thieves?" asked our Lord. 
Notice the answer of the lawyer. He hated the very name 
of the Samaritans as a devoted nation ; he did not, there- 
fore, say to our Lord at once, ''The neighbour was the 
Samaritan;" that would have been going too far; but he 
expressed it by a periphrasis; he said, ''He that showed 



224 FORESHADOWS. 

mercy on him." He might have said the Samaritaiij but 
his bigotry would not say so ; yet his honesty would not 
allow him to conceal the fact that the true neighbour was 
he that showed the greatest compassion. So our love 
should be. Christian love is not to be limited by sect, or 
nation, or continent, or country. It is to pass by the ex- 
terior, and to prize the precious thing that is within ; it is 
to go beyond the walls of sect, and triumph wherever it 
finds and feels humanity. Our blessed Lord tells us this 
is the way of our Father who is-in heaven. The sunbeams 
do not ask if it be a genial soil before they fall upon it; 
the rain-drops do not ask whether it be desert sand or pro- 
lific earth before they light upon it ; but suns and rains 
fall upon the evil and the good ; thereby teaching us, that 
our love, our charity, our compassion is not to be guided 
at all by the elements of faith, of creed, of sect, of nation, 
of kin or kindred, but by the great law, wherever humanity 
suffers there the human heart should sympathize, and 
wherever a brother is in necessity, there a brother's love 
should clothe and feed him. So truly and so beautifully 
spoke our Lord in Matthew v. : '(• Ye have heard that it has 
been said by them of old time. Thou shalt love thy neigh- 
bour and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you. Love 
your enemies, bless them which curse you, and pray for 
them which despitefuUy use you and persecute you. That 
ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven, 
for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, 
and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if 
ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do 
not even the publicans the same ? And if ye salute your 
brethren only, what do ye more than others ? do not even 
the publicans so ? Be ye therefore perfect, as your Father 
which is in heaven is perfect." 

Such is the lesson taught to the lawyer, and through 



THE GOOD SAMARITAN. 005 

hiiii to ns, in this beautiful parable: there is, however, ia 
this, as in all the parables of Christ, an inner and deeper, 
though a more mysterious, meaning still. I believe that 
this parable is a great representation of human nature in 
its ruin, and of the interposition of Ilim who is mystically 
the good Samaritan. Man fell from God in Paradise. lie 
lost his strength and became weak, his holiness and became 
guilty, his glory and was made desolate ; and as soon as 
he went forth from Paradise he fell into a world, like Jericho 
the city of the curse, and in it Satan, the robber and mur- 
derer from the beginning, has plundered and w^ounded him, 
till his life-blood flows from every pore. The last remains 
of his ancient glory are faded, and humanity lies in its 
wreck and ruin, deplored by the holy ones, and pitied only 
by Him whose mercy is over all his creatures. While hu- 
manity was lying in this state, Abraham beheld and passed 
by, for he had no mercy to spare for others, all the mercy 
that he had was derived from One that was to come ; Moses 
passed by with the righteous law and the burning glory, 
and he too had no prescription and no balm that could heal 
wounded humanity. Aaron passed by with his rites, and 
ceremonies, and sacrifices, which, though offered year by 
year continually, could never take away sin. The priest, 
the patriarch, the prophet, the philosopher, the Greek, the 
Jew, the barbarian, all passed by, acknowledging a ruin 
which they could not retrieve, wounds they could not heal, 
a condition too desperate for any of the waters of Abana 
and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, to restore : but at last 
One passed not by, but paused, nobler and more glorious 
than all, because the end, the object, and the fountain of 
all. He can say, <^No eye pitied thee to have compassion 
upon thee ; but thou wast cast out. And when I passed 
by thee and saw thee polluted in thine OAva blood, I said 
unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live : yea, I said 



226 FOrvESIIADOWS. 

unto thee when thou wast in thy blood. Live. And 1 spread 
my skirt over thee and covered thy nakedness : yea, I sware 
unto thee and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the 
Lord God, and thou becamest mine." 

I have thus looked at the whole of this beautiful parable : 
let me make the following remarks in conclusion. First, 
it is perfectly possible to be acquainted with all the truths 
of Christianity and not to feel them. The lawyer knew 
the law in all its force, he had practised none of it : and 
if there be a responsibility more dreadful than another, it 
is to know duty and do the reverse ; it is to know the truth 
that can save us, and cleave to the lie that must inevitably 
condemn us. None plunge into so deep a ruin as those that 
have been placed upon the loftiest pinnacle of human privi- 
leges. Perhaps, reader, you know the gospel in your head ; 
has it touched, transformed, pervaded, sanctified your 
heart ? Ask the question yourself, has Christianity made 
me any thing this day, which I should not have been if 
Christianity had never been in the world ? Are you now 
what your constitutional character and conventional cir- 
cumstances have made you, and which you would have been 
if the cross had never been raised, and a divine sufferer 
had never hung upon it ? or are you conscious that if you 
had never heard the gospel, you would have been altogether 
a different person from that which you now are ? What 
the gospel has made you is the measure of what the gospel 
is to you. Christianity is not in word, but in power : where 
it is simply a clear creed, without a holy sanctified heart 
and conduct, it is responsibility that will ruin, not grace 
that will save. 

In the next place, let us learn this lesson, that we need 
to know the requirements of God's law before we can ap- 
preciate with adequate gratitude the provisions of God's 
gospel. It is only when we see how broad and large and 



THE GOOD SAMARITAN. 227 

deep are the demands of his holy law, that we can feel our 
litter inability to do it ; and, feeling our inability to obey 
a law, perfect obedience to which would be perfect happi- 
ness, we look about to inquire if there be one from whom 
perfect happiness can be realized. Christianity does not 
think less of sin, or diminish its guilt, or think less of the 
requirements of the law, but it exalts the atonement of 
Him whose blood cleanses from all sin, and whose right- 
eousness is the end of that law. Hence when we preach 
forgiveness through Christ, we do not want men to think 
their sins less than they are, or to think the law less strict 
than it is, but to see more clearly the magnificent provision 
that is made in the Son of God, the Saviour of sinners ; so 
that we may see the strictest law glorified by his obedience, 
and the greatest sin forgiven through the efficacy of his blood. 

Especially let us learn this lesson, to do good to all 
men as we have opportunity. Do not ask querulous or 
small questions when you see objects which you know to 
be suffering with hunger and cold : do not ask. Can you 
pronounce my Shibboleth ? are you a member of my sect, 
or party, or denomination ? Not that you are to love less 
the truth, but that your love is to go beyond the limits 
of your sect, and to express itself wherever suffering is 
found. Every one should feel that he has a neighbour 
somewhere, whose wants, necessities, and sufferings he is 
called upon to minister to. And I believe we shall do 
more for our sect by extending our charity beyond it, than 
by restricting it to it. 

He, then, is truly our neighbour who loves us most. It 
is not country, it is not locality, it is not party, that makes 
a neighbour ; it is humanity itself. Let us as much as 
possible rid ourselves of all the prejudices of self; let us 
look upon no man as our foe ; let us take our political 
opponent and love him ; let us recollect that the army of 



228 FORESHADOWS. 

the Great King has no universal uniform ; that his people 
are found m all sects, that they may be discovered in all 
circumstances. 

Let us show the love that we feel by surrounding a 
communion table from time to time, and commemorating 
there the love of our eldest Brother, our glorious Neigh- 
bour, the Son of God, the Saviour of sinners. It is by 
surrounding that table, that we profess we are not ashamed 
of him that loved us. We declare that we glory in the 
manifestation of love which that cross exhibited. And 
we proclaim at that table, that our love is, in its degree 
and measure, like Christ's love ; a love that embraces, like 
the atmosphere, the highest and the remotest, and that we 
are ready to sacrifice in our Master's spirit, and with our 
Master's property — for that property we have saved, that 
money in the stocks, those sovereigns in the bank, are not 
yours, the image and superscription of Christ are upon 
them all, and a day may come when you shall see the folly 
of hoarding, and feel the wisdom and the joy of distribut- 
ing. Days may come when it shall be seen, that he who 
gave and scattered has increased, and that he who in- 
creased and scattered none, has lost indeed. I believe 
that we are now coming into a cycle that will test our 
Christianity; an era in which nothing but realities will 
live: hypocrites, pretenders, shams, ceremonials, rituals, 
all will be scattered like the leaves of autumn, before the 
winds that will then sweep the earth. Let us make sure 
that our footing is on the Kock of ages, that our right 
hand grasps the sceptre of the Great King ; that we make 
religion now a reality, and take it home to our hearts. 
Let us not leave the question unsettled. What must I do to 
inherit eternal life? We must determine to have an 
answer to it. I think the most melancholy spectacle we 
ministers witness several times a year, is, that when we 



THE GOOD SAMARITAN. 229 

tell the communicants to remain, two-thirds of the congre- 
gation retire ; and it seems as if the sounds of their de- 
parting footsteps echoed in our hearts, We don't belong to 
Christ, Ave are not fit to go to his table on earth ; of course 
we are not fit to go before his judgment-scat in heaven. 
Deeds say so. With the sword suspended in the distance 
— with diseases of all sorts, like terrible miasma, hovering 
on our shores — wdth lives frail as the spider's web — with 
responsibilities that eternity will not exhaust, hell will 
not quench, and nothing but the blood of Christ can 
meet — one may well ask, is it right, is it reasonable to 
remain in this suspensive, this unsettled, this undecided 
state, whether we are the people of God or not? I 
do not say that all who come to that table are Chris- 
tians ; but I do say that all wdio are purposely absent 
from it, declare themselves that they do not pretend to 
be so. It is our Lord's last command, his dying com- 
mand, Do this in remembrance of me : and, if we were 
to look at it in a right light, spread, as it is, upon 
Calvary, not upon Sinai ; for poor sinners, not for cheru- 
bim nor for angels around the throne of God, but for the 
hungry, the thirsty, the feeble, the fiiint, the doubting, the 
suspecting, the agitated, the almost despairing — I am sure 
it would not be so deserted as it is. What, is the soldier 
ashamed of his country and his queen? Is one who 
believes himself a Christian ashamed to say, Christ's death 
is my life, his life my pattern, his atonement my trust, his 
heaven my home ? I count all but loss for him, I rejoice 
in his grace ; in life I serve him, in heaven I hope to be with 
him, and this day I solemnly and deliberately avow him. 

Thus met as neighbours around a communion table on 
earth, we anticipate, or rather have an instalment of, that 
holy festival at which we shall again meet as happy neigh- 
bours in the age to come. 

II. SER. 20 



230 



LECTURE XV. 



THE SON OF aOD. 

Hear another parable : There was a certain householder, which planted a vine- 
yard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a 
tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country: and when 
the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that 
they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took his servants, 
and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again, he sent otlier 
servants more than the first : and they did unto them likewise. But last of 
all he sent unto them his son, saying. They will reverence my son. But 
when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the 
heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. And they 
caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him. When the lord 
therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen ? 
They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will 
let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the 
fruits in their season. — Matt. xxi. 33-41. • 

In my discourse on the labourers of the vineyard, I 
explained at length the appropriate symbol of a vineyard, 
as descriptive of the kingdom of God, committed in trust 
to a people. The vineyard here I conceive to be just that 
sacred deposit, that guardianship of the truth, which was 
intrusted first to the Jews, and on their unfaithfulness and 
treachery, committed to the Gentiles. The kingdom of 
God I look upon as having for its elements, not meat nor 
drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy; and as 
having for its subjects regenerated, sanctified, believing, 
redeemed men. This kingdom, which has those charac- 
teristic elements, and distinctive subjects, was first com- 
mitted to the Jews ; it was a vineyard intrusted to them ; 



THE SON or (\C)j). 231 

its laws "wcrc the sacred oracles ; its administrators Avere 
the priests and Levites anointed of God for the purpose ; 
its rites and ceremonies, from the minutest to the greatest, 
were all laid down and described by God. It was thus a 
sacred trust, a hallowed deposit, which Avas committed to 
the Jews for the benefit of their nation and for the glory 
of their God; the misuse of Avhich was the greatest ingrati- 
tude, the betrayal of which was the greatest sin. 

This vineyard thus committed to the Jews — this sacred 
trust — was meant to bring forth fruit ; and we read that, 
as the time of the fruit drew near, the householder re- 
solved to enjoy that fruit. It is here presumed, that when 
it was let out or lent to the Jews, the pajanent, as it w^ere, 
to the lender, that is, God, was not to be in money, but in 
kind ; he expected to have his rent in grapes, not in coin ; 
and, therefore, when the time of the fruit draws near, God 
looks for the fruit or rent that is fairly due to him. This 
teaches us, that wherever God has left a blessing, there he 
has laid a responsibilitj^ ; wherever God has given a talent, 
there he looks for the use of it. If we are conscious that 
we have received from God the blessing of health, of 
strength, of wealth, of power, of talent, of influence, 
whatever it may be, God comes at the proper season, and 
looks for the appropriate fruit ; and if Ave have failed, the 
talent Avill be taken from us, the vineyard Avill be lent to 
others, and all the responsibility only, Avithout the least 
enjoyment, of that great blessing, Avill remain Avith us. 

The first question that occurs in endeavouring to explain 
the meaning of this parable is. Who Avere the serA^ants that 
the householder, or tlie original landlord, sent into the 
vineyard, in order to bring him the fruit ? It is said, ''he 
sent his servants to the husbandmen;" and, ''again he 
sent other serA^ants." As to the treatment which these 
servants received, ayc arc told that some were beaten, some 



232 FOKESIIADOWS. 

were stoned, and some were killed. The priests, the Le- 
vites, and the Jews were God's ordinary ministers ; they 
cultivated the vineyard, tended the vines, watered them, 
pruned them, and were appointed to do every thing which 
might contribute to their fruitfulness. But the servants 
that he sent cannot be the parties to whom the vineyard 
was intrusted ; for these last were the Pharisees, the Jews, 
the Levites, and the priests. The servants that he sent 
were his prophets. They vrere extraordinary messengers; 
they were not priests, but strictly and properly laymen. 
Isaiah was a layman, so was Ezekiel, so was Malachi ; but 
they were anointed and raised of God to execute a special 
mission, to make known to the people of Israel truths 
Avhich, except by those channels, could not be made known. 
The servants then were the prophets that God sent at suc- 
cessive epochs in the history of Israel, beginning with the 
first, and ending with the last, to call for the fruit of the 
vineyard, and each in turn to make his report to God as 
to the fertility and the produce of that precious deposit, 
which had been intrusted to the JevfS. The reception 
these servants met with is frequently alluded to in Scrip- 
ture, so frequently as to show that God laid great stress 
upon it. For instance, in Jeremiah xxxvii. we read, 
'' Then Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem to go into 
the land of Benjamin, to separate himself thence in the 
midst of the people, xind Avhen he was in the gate of 
Benjamin, a captain of the ward was there, whose name 
was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah; 
and he took Jeremiah the prophet, saying, Thou fallest 
away to the Chaldeans. Then said Jeremiah, It is false; 
I fall not away to the Chaldeans. But he hearkened not 
to him : so Irijah took Jeremiah, and brought him to the 
princes. Wherefore the princes were wroth with Jere- 
miah, and smote him, and put him in prison." This is 



THE SON OF GOD. o ;«> 

one specimen of tlic treatment of God's prophets. AVc 
have another allusion to this very same course of treatment 
in the Acts of the Apostles, in that striking appeal of Ste- 
phen's, where he says, ''Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised 
in heart and ears, ye do ahvays resist the Holy Ghost: as 
your fathers did, so do ye. Which of the prophets have 
not your fathers persecuted ? And they have slain them 
which showed before of the coming of the Just One, of 
whom ye have now been the betrayers and murderers." In 
the Epistle to the Thessalonians also we read, " For ye, 
brethren, became followers of the churches of God, which 
in Judea are in Christ Jesus ; for ye also have suffered 
like things of your countrymen, even as they have of the 
Jews ; Avho both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own pro- 
phets, and have persecuted us ; and they please not God, 
and are contrary to all men." In Hebrews xi. 36, we have 
another reference to the same treatment : ''And others had 
trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover, of 
bonds and imprisonment : they were stoned, they were 
sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword : 
they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins ; being 
destitute, afflicted, tormented." We have thus then every 
portion of Scripture bearing testimony to the fact that 
the Jews maltreated, persecuted, and destroyed the ser- 
vants that were sent to them. Isaiah was sawn asunder, 
and to him the apostle in the Hebrews probably alludes ; 
Jeremiah was stoned to death ; and if we knew the biogra- 
phy of each of the rest of the prophets, we should find 
that they too suffered in a similar manner. So true is it, 
what God says to Jeremiah, "I sent unto you my servants 
the prophets, rising up early and sending them ; saying. 
Oh, do not this abominable thing which I hate." "Never- 
theless they rebelled against thee, and cast thy laws be- 
hind their back, and slew thy prophets who testified unto 



234 FORESHADOWS. 

tliem." We have very clear evidence, then, that the ser- 
vants were the prophets sent at intervals to the Jews, seek- 
ing the fruit, and showing how it should be produced ; and 
that the treatment which is stated to have been given to 
the servants in the parable, was just the treatment that 
these prophets received from those they came to. But how 
infatuated is it in a people to destroy the prophet, in order 
to escape the judgments that he predicts ! How absurd is 
it to suppose that the minister is your enemj^, because he 
tells you the truth ! If the prophet makes known to you 
that which is not true, then treat him as an impostor ; but 
be sure that he is not a true prophet. If he speaks what 
you know, on the highest possible evidence, is the inspira- 
tion and the message of the Almighty, then you do not 
extinguish the truth when you make a martyr of the wit- 
ness. Truth does not die with her martyrs. God does 
not cease with his witnesses ; and whether you slay the 
prophet on the one hand, or exalt him to dignity on the 
other, his message, if the message of God, is fixed as the 
everlasting hills ; and heaven and earth may pass away, 
but one jot or tittle of it shall not fail until all shall be 
completely fulfilled. Remember then, that when you hear 
the gospel preached from the pulpit, and when that gospel 
touches that part of your conscience that you are anxious 
to shield from its touch, you do not, when you escape from 
the place, escape from your responsibility: you can no 
more escape from your responsibility than you can escape 
from yourselves. Go into the most distant deserts, go into 
the Mohammedan mosque, or into the Romish chapel, go 
where you like, the truth you have heard cleaves to you, 
inseparable from your soul, as its immortality and its re- 
sponsibility before God. Nothing that you can do to the 
witness will quench his testimony; nothing that you can 
do to the prophet will ease you of your responsibility. If 



THE .SON OF GOD. o.^^5 

you have heard the truth, you have received an elcineiit of 
responsibility before God, which time shall not finish, nor 
eternity itself exhaust. How absurd then to kill the pro- 
phet, thinking that thereby you get rid of the judgments 
Avhicli he has been commissioned to denounce ! 

Then when God's servants were thus treated — not one, 
nor two, nor three, but, as I have shown, all were invariably 
so treated — what might we have expected? We should 
have expected judgment. When men's hands were stained 
with the blood of the prophets of the Lord, we should 
have expected that the judgments of that Lord would de- 
scend upon them, and crush them. Man's way prescribes 
this treatment; God's did not. When God saw that his 
prophets were stoned, and killed, and sawn asunder, instead 
of coming down to the earth with the lightnings of a right- 
eous retribution, he came upon the wings of a sovereign 
and infinite mercy, and ^^sent his only begotten Son, that 
whosoever believeth on him might not perish, but have 
everlasting life." How very striking is this fact ; and what 
evidence it gives us of the intensity of that love which God 
bears to his own ! The hour when man's sin had risen to 
its maximum, w^as the hour wdien God's mercy overwhelmed 
it, and buried it in its depths. AVhen man's merits de- 
served only universal destruction, God's mercy overcame 
man's sin with good. Man's way is to punish sin with 
punishment, and thus to extinguish it ; God's waj'- is to over- 
come evil with good, hatred with love, rebellion with mercy, 
and thus to extinguish it. ''God's ways are not as our 
ways, nor his thoughts as our thoughts, but as high as the 
heaven is above the earth, so liigli are his thoughts above 
our thoughts." The words are, "He sent unto them his 
son, saying, They will reverence my son;" or, as it is in 
the parallel passage in the Gospel of Mark, "Having yet, 
therefore, one son, his Avell-beloved, he sent him." The 



236 FORESHADOWS. 

instant one reads this, and knows that it is a parable illus- 
trating great spiritual truths, one cannot but reflect on such 
words as these: ^'God so loved the world, that he gave 
his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him 
might not perish, but have eternal life." ^^In this was 
manifested the love of God, that he sent his only begotten 
Son." He had sent prophets, and they were slain ; he had 
sent extraordinary messengers from the skies, and they 
were scorned and rejected. God's mercy was not to be 
repressed by man's ingratitude .and sins. Where sin lite- 
rally abounded, grace did literally much more abound, for 
God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. 
Rather than that sinners should eternally perish, God re- 
solved that his own Son should infinitely suffer. What that 
relationship may be between the Father and the Son, we 
know not. The expression ''Son," as applied to the Lord 
Jesus Christ, denotes something altogether different from 
what it does as applied to an earthly relationship. All that 
we know is, that the Father is God, that the Son is God, and 
that the Holy Spirit is God; and yet that God sent his only 
begotten Son. And what does this teach us? That it is 
not true that God loves us because Christ died for us, but 
that Christ died for us because God loved us. The very 
common idea is, that in dealing with God the Father, we 
have to deal with one who is reluctant to forgive us, and 
that we can only prevail upon him to forgive us by press- 
ing upon his notice the sufferings of his Son. But that is 
not the gospel. The gospel is, that Christ is the exiores- 
sion of a love that was, not the creation of a love that was 
not. The gospel is, that Christ came and died for us, not 
that God might love us, but because he so loved us. There- 
fore the death of Christ is precious to me, not only because 
it is the channel of a love that was, but because also it is 
the expression and evidence of that love toward me. This 



THE SON OF GOD. • 237 

great truth — tlie manifestation of God's love in Christ 
Jesus — is the music of heaven that aAvakes musical re- 
sponses in a thousand hearts; the manifestation of a love 
on account of ^vhich we love him, because he first loved us. 
Never, therefore, let us conceive of God the Father as an 
angry Judge, to be propitiated by our presenting the suf- 
ferings of Christ; but let us think of him as having loved 
us amid the wrecks of Paradise, just as he loved us in 
Eden's beautiful bloom. Conceive of his having loved us 
in our sins as much as he loved us when we walked Avith 
him in Paradise. Conceive of God loving us, not because 
of our sins, but in spite of our sins, and giving us Christ 
to suffer, that these sins might be forgiven in consistency 
with his justice, and that our souls might be saved in har- 
mony with his perfect law, and in accordance with his in- 
finite and unimpeachable holiness. Oh! the height, the 
breadth, the length, the depth of that love which survived 
the fall, which presses upon us still, of which each man 
may become the subject, and each soul the transformed re- 
cipient, if that soul only will. 

In this fact of God's sending his Son after he had sent 
his servants, I think we have evidence (though it may seem 
at the first blush to be the opposite) of the vast distinction 
between the Son and the servants. The servants, we read, 
were sent, and each servant, as he was sent, was stoned, 
or sawn asunder, or slain. At last we read that God sent 
his Son, or, as Mark says, his only and his well-beloved Son. 
Now this idea of a distinction between the Son and tlie 
servants is beautifully set forth in the Epistle to the He- 
brews, chap. iii. 5: «« Moses verily was faithful in all his 
house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which 
were to be spoken after." Then he adds, ''But Christ as 
a Son over his own house ; Avhose house are we, if we hold 
fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto 



238 FORESHADOWS. 

tbe end." Let us observe the distinction of the apostle. 
He selects Moses, the most distinguished and exalted of 
all the servants that were sent to the Jews — beyond all 
comparison so — and he says Moses was simply a servant ; 
Christ was a Son over his own house, Moses a servant over 
his Master's house. The distinction, therefore, drawn be- 
tween the servants and the Son in this parable — a distinc- 
tion which the apostle Paul confirms in the Epistle to the 
Hebrews — teaches us this, — ^that the Lord Jesus Christ was 
not merely a man, but that he was also God. Take from 
us the deity of Christ, and you take from us all the gospel 
that is worth retaining ; because, if Christ be not God, it 
is utterly impossible that there can be an atonement. Sup- 
pose that Christ were what the Arian represents him to be, 
the most exalted of creatures; suppose that he is vastly 
more than the Socinian will allow — the first-born, the most 
pure, the most holy, the most perfect of creatures ; then, 
I say, from gospel revelation, from what we can gather in 
the Bible of every characteristic of God, his attributes, his 
law, his will, that it would have been as unjust in God to 
have made that perfectly holy creature die for us, as it 
would have been to have admitted us without an atonement 
into his immediate presence. For what is the law of God's 
universe ? That perfect holiness is perfect happiness ; that 
^^ the wages of sin is death." If, therefore, Christ had been 
a perfectly holy, exalted, and glorious creature, we are per- 
fectly satisfied, from what God has revealed respecting him- 
self, that he could not in consistency with his justice, his 
holiness, his law, have.made that creature suffer, if he could 
suffer, for the sins and transgressions of another. None 
but God had power to lay down his life, and none but God 
in human nature could have had a life to lay down. If it 
was a creature that suffered for us, that creature could de- 
serve nothing. Suppose Christ were a perfectly holy crea- 



THE SON OF GOD. 239 

ture, "wlien lie has done all he can do, he only yields to God, 
the Sovereign, that which was due. A creature perfectly 
holy has nothing to spare; and therefore if Christ died, 
(if it were possible that a holy creature could be made by 
the sovereignty of God to die for others, contrary to that 
law which says that only the soul that sins shall die,) then 
we allege that that creature's death Avould not be of the 
least use to us. He would have no expiatory element in 
his blood; he would have no justifying righteousness for 
others; he would only have done what the Sovereign de- 
creed should be done. Unless Christ be God, the atone- 
ment is a delusion, a fable, a dream. But we know that 
the Jews understood always, by the expression, " Son of 
God,'' that he was God. For instance, in that remarkable 
passage in John v. 18, where we read that the ''Jews sought 
the more to kill him, because he had not only broken the 
Sabbath, (as they alleged,) but said also God was his Fa- 
ther." The words in the original are idurj Uarepa — "his 
Father," in that peculiar sense in which the Jews under- 
stood it, and in which God is the Father of none besides. 
The Jews accused Christ of blasphemy, because he said 
God was his Father, making himself equal with God. They 
understood, therefore, by the expression, ''Son of God," 
deity. And our Lord, instead of disabusing their minds, 
if he were not God, says in the 23d verse, "That all men 
should honour (the word is the same « as worship) the Son, 
even as they honour (or worship) the Father. He that 
honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father which 
sent him," — he that rejects Christ as God, rejects God the 
Father. Hence the Socinian's god is not our God at all ; 
he Avorships an idol, he does not worship the living, the 
true, and only God. Thus, then, the greatness of the love 
of God is only rivalled by the greatness of the offering. 
God loved sinners just as much as he loved his own Son. 



240 FGKESHADOWS. 

He so loved us that he gave, as the measure and expression 
of that love, his only begotten Son, that whosoever believed 
on him might not perish, but have eternal life. 

We see, next, the policy of the Jews, when the Son 
came. We read that "when the husbandmen saw him, 
they said among themselves. This is the heir, come, let us 
kill him, and seize the inheritance." These words must 
remind us of a very remarkable passage in the book of 
Genesis, where we read that when Joseph came to his 
brethren, " they said one to another. Behold, this dreamer 
cometh ; come now, therefore, and let us slay him, and 
cast him into some pit, and we will say some evil beast 
hath devoured him ; and we shall see what will become of 
his dreams." We have the very same passage illustrated 
in the Gospel of John respecting the consultation of 
Caiaphas and the Pharisees, (chap. xi. 47. :) " Then gathered 
the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said. 
What do ye ? for this man doeth many miracles ; if we 
let him thus alone, all men will believe on him, and the 
Romans shall come and take away both our place and 
nation. And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the 
high priest that same year, said unto them, Ye know 
nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient for us, that 
one man should die for the people," — he meant, should die 
in order to save the nation from its destruction by the fo- 
reign foes that were gathered around it, and prepared to 
extinguish it ; and that the whole nation should not 
perish. 

We have thus, then, the heir seized by the scribes, — 
the Son of God laid hold upon by the Jews. And on 
what ground ? Not on the ground that prophecy had told 
they should do so ; not upon the ground that he had done 
some great crime ; but upon that ground on which nations, 
kings, statesmen, private Christians, and public men, have 



THE SON OF GOD. 241 

for the last eighteen hundred years made shipwreck a 
thousand times, — the ground of a carnal, a worldly, an 
earthly expediency. Caiaphas said it was expedient^ he did 
not say it vms justy that he should be slain. He did not 
say, ''It is his demerits that have brought him to this 
pass ;" but he said, " Whether it be just or unjust, whether 
it be merciful or unmerciful, are mere questions for theo- 
logians to discuss ; it is a piece of political expediency that 
one man should die for the people." The priest of expe- 
diency prevailed ; and the consequence was, like all similar 
expediency, when not based on justice and animated by 
truth, that it brought round the very result which it was 
intended to deprecate and stave off. We read, for instance, 
in the case of the brethren of Joseph, that their efforts to 
destroy him were overruled to exalt him to a throne ; and 
we see, in the conduct of the Pharisees, that their efforts to 
keep off the Roman from their land, were the very efforts 
— the very sins before God — that brought down upon them 
the desolations of Titus and Vespasian, till one stone was 
not left standing upon another. Truth and justice are al- 
ways expedient. Expediency, or what seems so, is not 
always truth and justice. A house built upon truth and 
justice shall stand fixed and lasting like the stars. A 
capitol based upon expediency rests on sand. When a 
rotten brick is introduced into the noblest temple, it will 
ultimately hasten its destruction. It is not the breadth of 
the foundation, or the height of the superstructure, but 
the purity and the justice of it, that are elements of per- 
petuity, and strength, and stability for ever. It is not out- 
ward patronage, but inward principle, that is mighty. It 
is not exterior glory, but it is mercy, and truth, and right- 
eousness, and peace, that arc mightier than all opposing 
elements, and that survive all efforts to destroy or to sup- 
plant them. 

II. SEE. 21 



242 FORESHADOWS. 

Let us observe, in the next place, not only the false ex- 
pediency on which they acted, but also the self-righteous- 
ness and folly which they exhibited. They said, " Let us 
kill the heir, and seize the inheritance." The brethren 
of Joseph thought if they could get rid of Joseph, they 
would occupy the place of favour in their father's bosom, 
which now was left empty. The Jews, the scribes, and 
Pharisees thought if they could only get rid of Christ, 
they would enjoy perfect peace, and last long as a prosper- 
ous nation ; and the Pharisees thought if they could only 
destroy him and keep out Christianity, they would still 
enjoy that monopoly of privilege, of honour, of dignity, 
and power, which they had so long perverted and abused. 
They therefore fancied that if they could get rid of this 
heir, they might then seize the inheritance. They thought 
they had righteousness enough to deserve it, and strength 
enough to grasp it. As well might they have tried to soar 
without wings, or to clasp the lightnings of the skies, and 
gather the thunders into their bosoms, as to seize that in- 
heritance which is pronounced by him that cannot lie to be 
the inheritance of him v/ho is constituted heir of all things. 
Does not this teach us a very important lesson ? What is 
all science seeking to subdue the earth to itself, without 
Christianity, but man seeking to seize the inheritance of 
w^hich Christ alone is the heir ? What is all commerce, all 
legislation, which is not based upon Christian principle, 
but man trying to grasp by human might what can only be 
conceded to divine and Christian principle ? What is all 
education of the young, which is not leavened and saturated 
with important and scriptural truths, but man trying to 
grasp that soul and make it his slave, which belongs to 
him who is the heir of soul and body, and the inheritor, as 
he is the Maker, of all things visible and invisible ? And 
what, in every instance, have been the results of such 



THE SON OF GOD. 243 

efforts, but building on the sand, stretching out the hand 
to gi^sp what is not our own, and withdrawing that hand 
withered, paralyzed, and disabled ? In their expediency, 
then, in their folly and self-righteousness, they caught him, 
(that is, the Son,) and they cast him out ; or, as it is ex- 
pressed by the apostle, «' crucified him without the gate," 
— an unclean sacrifice, not fit for presentation in Jerusa- 
lem ; he would be only offered up without the gate as an 
anathematized and execrated thing. 

There are still one or two points that are really worthy 
of attention. The first is, that the Jews' treatment of Christ 
was according to the express, clearly indicated, long pre- 
viously announced purposes of God. We read in the Acts of 
the Apostles, <' Those things which Grod before hath showed 
by the mouth of his holy prophets, that Christ should suffer, 
he hath so fulfilled." Again, in chap. xxiv. 27, ''For of a 
truth, against the holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, 
both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and people 
of Israel, were gathered together, for to do whatsoever thy 
hand and thy counsel determined before to be done." It was 
God's purpose, which was proclaimed from everlasting. It 
was as impossible that Judas should not betray, that Pilate 
should not condemn, that Caiaphas should not acquiesce, 
that the Jews should not cry. Crucify him ! Away with him ! 
as it was impossible that God's word should fail, or God's 
promises prove a lie. It was the purpose of God from 
everlasting that it should be so. But you say, (and the 
difficulty lies here,) If all this was the purpose of God, 
then who hath resisted him ? And how far can man be 
charged with crime for fulfilling the purposes of God? I 
answer, that if you should see a prophecy the most clear, 
you have no business to try to fulfil it. We have nothing 
to do with fulfilling prophecies ; we have only to do with 
obeying precepts. Here was the grand error of the Mid- 



244 FORESHADOWS. 

die Ages. It was clearly predicted that the Jews should 
be a scoff, a by-word, a raockeryj in every land, that they 
should be hunted and persecuted, that they should have no 
rest for the soles of their feet. What did the medieval 
popes, prelates, priests, and people do? They said, ^'God 
has predicted that the Jew shall be maltreated everywhere; 
let us imprison him, let us extract his teeth, let us rob 
him, let us burn him." All that was their crime and their 
wickedness in the sight of God. The prophecy lies under 
the eye and in the immediate charge of the Almighty, and 
he will see it fulfilled. The precept lies at our door, and 
Yfe are responsible only for obedience or disobedience to 
it. Here, then, there was the purpose of God clearly an- 
nounced, but it was not the part of the Jews, or the scribes 
or Pharisees, even if they saw that prophecy and under- 
stood that purpose, to attempt to fulfil it. But to show 
that they did it of their own free-will, and that because 
God had purposed, man was not blameless, I refer to the 
statement of the apostle. Acts ii. 22, where he combines 
the two things clearly together. ^' Ye men of Israel, hear 
these words ; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God 
among you, by miracles, and wonders, and signs, which 
God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also 
know: him, being delivered by the determinate counsel 
and foreknowledge of God, [here was the purpose ; it was 
not accident, it was not chance, but prearrangement. 
What does he add ?] ye have taken, and by wicked hands 
[observe, here is the crime, notwithstanding the purpose 
of God] have crucified and slain." So in chap. iii. 14, 
^'But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired 
a murderer to be granted unto you; and killed the Prince 
of life whom God hath raised from the dead ; whereof we 
are witnesses." We see that, in the apostle's mind, God's 
sovereignty and man's responsibility did not clash in the 



THE SON OF GOD. 245 

least ; and so little afraid was that apostle that there should 
be seen, or felt to be, any dissonance, that he states in one 
breath the sovereign and the everlasting purpose of God, 
and the criminality, and therefore the weighty responsi- 
bility, of those that murdered the Lord of glory. This we 
know to be a fact, that whatever be God's purposes, they 
neither trammel, nor clash, nor interfere with the un- 
fettered freedom and action of man. We know that every 
thing we do is done spontaneously ; we feel that every sin 
that we commit is done deliberately. There will not be 
one lost spirit shivering at the judgment-seat of God that 
will say, " I sinned, because there pressed on me the ocean- 
load of an everlasting' decree which I could not resist." 

o 

Nor will there be one lost spirit in the realms of misery 
who will be able to say, " I am here in spite of my own 
volitions, and under impulses that were as irresistible as 
omnipotence itself." Every man who is saved, is saved 
by the sovereignty of grace: every man who is lost, 
perishes a suicide by his own deliberate and wilful act and 
deed. Thus we feel, that the purposes of God, however 
clear, and the doings of man, are perfectly compatible. 
The one does not clash with the other. And blessed be 
God, how beautiful it is, that while the apostle in the Acts 
told of God's purpose and men's criminality, he added, 
^'Repent ye therefore, and be converted every one of you, 
that your sins may be blotted out." In other words, as 
long as there is life so long there is forgiveness; as long 
as we have a heart to feel, a tongue to plead, or aifections 
to cleave to Christ, so long there is complete forgiveness. 
The apostle called upon the Jews that instant to repent, 
that instant to believe, and that instant their sins would 
be blotted out. It is just this we have to preach still — a 
glorious amnesty, wide as the world, coextensive with all 
that will; free forgiveness, not on account of any thing 



246 rORESHADOY/S. 

we have done, or any thing we can do, or any thing we 
are, but freely received by faith, and bestowed in that love 
which loved us in spite of our sins, and loves us still in 
spite of our resistance to its efforts. ''Repent," says the 
apostle, '' and be converted, that your sins may be blotted 
out." 

Our Lord, when he had explained the treatment received 
by the Son, asks, ''What will he do?" The scribes and 
Pharisees pronounced their own condemnation, when they 
said, "He will miserably destroy those men." It appears 
the Pharisees saw that it referred to them, but were too 
cautious, too cunning and practised politicians, to let it be 
known before the multitude. Hence, in the Gospel of 
Mark, we read of the people breaking in and saying, " God 
forbid;" evidently understanding that the parable referred 
to their nation, and that their nation would be destroyed, 
unless they repented, returned from their wickedness, and 
embraced the truth. Then we have our Lord varying the 
imagery: "Have ye never read, (he says,) The stone 
which the builders rejected is become the head-stone of 
the corner?" Psalm cxviii. Why did he thus vary the 
imagery ? Plainly for this reason : If he had closed the 
parable with the murder of the Son, it would have seemed 
to teach that the Jews had succeeded, and that there was 
an end to every thing like a fulfilment of the final purposes 
of the gospel of Christ. But he drew in a different image 
—an image familiar to the mind of the Jew, for there was 
not a Jew who did not believe that the 118th Psalm re- 
ferred to the Messiah ; and so popular was that impression, 
that when Peter was preaching, as we read in the Acts, he 
said to them, "This is the stone which was set at nought 
by you builders, but which is now become the chief corner- 
stone," or "head-stone of the corner." Every Jew under- 
stood that that referred to the Messiah, When our Lord 



THE SON OF GOD. 247 

added this, therefore, he not only showed that God's pur- 
pose to have a people to himself should not be frustrated, 
but that him they crucified, he would raise; the stone 
they cast away as Avorthless, he would make the head- 
stone of the corner. They thought that when they had 
crucified the Lord of glory, they had crossed the purposes 
of God. They thought, when they closed Good Friday, 
that there never would be an Easter morn. They fancied 
the stone that was rolled upon the sepulchre was the close 
of the apostles' hopes, as it Avas the termination of the 
Messiah's life. But they were utterly mistaken. Him 
they crucified, God exalted; and "he ascended up on high, 
led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men." I need 
not explain that the corner-stone is the stone that is the 
chief ornament of the building. It is used to denote dig- 
nity in Eastern countries. The corner of the divan is 
always the place where the most eminent guests sit. In 
Samuel we read, '^Draw near, ye corners of the people;'* 
that is, ^^ye chief persons." Again, God says, '^I have 
cut off the corners of the people;" meaning again, the 
chief persons of the people. The corner-stone is also used 
to denote beauty, as in Psalm cxliv., ''That our daughters 
may be as corner-stones, polished after the similitude of a 
palace." It denotes the union of Jew and Gentile, and 
of all that are scattered. 

To close these plain practical remarks. First, let us 
recollect that when God sent his Son into the world, he 
said, ''They will reverence my Son." The Jews did not 
do so ; the question now is, do we ? Why should we re- 
verence Christ? why worship him? why welcome him? 
It is natural that we should do so, when we think of the 
dignity of his person. Who was Christ? The Everlasting 
God, the Wonderful, the Mighty Counsellor, the King of 
kings, the Prince of the kings of the earth. Surely, if the 



248 FORESHADOWS. 

nations believed that the Creator of the universe was to 
pay a visit to the world, the procession that should meet 
him on the earth, one would suppose, would only be sur- 
passed by that procession of beauty and of splendour that 
accompanied him to the skies. It was but reasonable to 
say, therefore, ^' They will reverence my Son." But he 
is more than our Creator. He has a particular relation- 
ship to us. He is our Benefactor. By him all things 
were made ; without him was not any thing made. But 
he is our ceaseless Benefactor. All the blessings that w^e 
have, all the mercies that the Jews reaped, all the mani- 
festations of God that they saw, vrere directly from Christ. 
Knowing then that he was all this, was it not natural to 
conclude, '' Surely they will reverence my Son ?" 

Let us also notice the errand on which Christ came. 
He came not in a procession of glory, to be admired, 
applauded, and adored by a happy universe ; but to suffer 
that we might rejoice, to be wounded for our transgressions, 
to bear our iniquities, to die the Just for the unjust, that 
we might have life. Surely, if he comes on such an 
errand, men will smooth the path on which he walks, 
lighten his agony, at least, by their sympathy, mitigate 
his sufferings by showing how truly they appreciate what 
he has done. Surely it was reasonable to say, '' They will 
reverence my Son." If God upon the throne was worthy 
of a world's hosanna, surely God upon the cross suffering 
for them was more worthy still. 

Let us ponder, in the next place, the interesting infor- 
mation that Christ came to give. He not only came to 
suffer for us, but he came to give us the most interesting 
information that man ever listened to. How anxiously do 
we wait for tidings from distant lands ! How delighted 
are we, when we hear of some new star that has shot into 
view, or some new glimpse that men have obtained of the 



THE SON OF GOD. 249 

contents or inhabitants of the planets around our own ; 
How anxious arc we to hear, like the Athenians of old, 
what is interesting or new I Christ is the only messenger 
that came from the future. He tells what is in the grave, 
what is beyond the grave, and how bright is that home, 
how blessed is that companionship, of which his people are 
heirs. Surely, if such a messenger came with that mes- 
sage, it was but natural to Say, " They will reverence my 
Son." And wdien we consider the perfection of his cha- 
racter, the purity of his walk, the holiness of all he did, 
the glory with which he spoke, so that his enemies said, 
"Never man spake like this man," we might conclude, 
<'They w^ill reverence my Son." Plato, the ancient and 
most illustrious of all the heathen philosophers, wdio w^as 
believed, with Socrates his master, to have stood upon the 
very highest pinnacle of the earth, and to have caught 
some of the first beams of the rising Sun of righteousness, 
made this remarkable statement — that if God were to 
send, what he wished he would send, some great repre- 
sentative of himself from the skies, all men would instantly 
fall down and do him homage. In other w^ords, Plato 
expressed what Christ himself has embodied in this parable, 
'' They w^ill reverence my Son." Plato's wish was fulfilled ; 
the half-prophecy, half-yearning of his heart w^as realized. 
God sent not an earthly messenger, but his only Son, and 
he himself said, '^Surely they will reverence my Son:" 
and the response that w^as given to it was, "Away with 
him ! Away with him ! Crucify him ! Crucify him !" And 
they crucified him betw^een two thieves, one on either side, 
writing over him in mockery, <^ Jesus of Nazareth, the 
King of the Jews." But perhaps it m\\ be said, The 
Jews are to be excused, as they knew not the greatness, 
the beauty, and the preciousness of him whom they cruci- 
fied. Perhaps it extenuates their crime, perhaps it palli- 



250 FOKESHADOWS. 

ates the enormity of tlieir transgression. But if the 
Jews are to be excused on the ground that they did not 
know who Christ really was, we cannot plead that ground. 
We know what they did not know ; points in his character 
that were in the shadow then, are luminous now ; truths 
that were hieroglyphics then, are clearly and unequivocally 
stated now. Let me ask. Do you reverence the Son ? 
Does his name give its colouring to your every action ? 
Is it the music of your every feeling ? Is it lisped by your 
babes ? Is it gloried in by your strong men ? Is it 
clasped in death as the passport to immortality and glory 
by your dying men ? Do you reverence him by loving 
him ? by speaking for him ? by sacrificing for him ? and, 
if needful, by suffering for him ? If his name is precious 
to you, do you show that it is so by praying that it may be 
felt and seen as precious by others also ? What Chris- 
tianity enables you to sacrifice, is just the measure of its 
hold upon you. What it enables you to triumph over, is 
just the outward exponent of its depth, and height, and 
strength, and length, and breadth within you. A man is 
Christian just in proportion to what he can do, dare, 
suffer, proclaim, to reverence the Son of (xod. Blessed 
will that future be in which angels and redeemed creatures 
will reverence with us the Son of God. 

Lord, make us to be numbered with thy saints in 
glory everlasting. 



251 



LECTURE XVL 



TnE TWO GENERATIONS. 

And lio said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a 
steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. 
And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee ? 
give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward. 
Then the steward said within himself, what shall I do ? for my lord taketh 
away from n^ the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed. I am 
resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may 
receive me into their houses. So he called every one of his lord's debtors 
unto him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my lord ? And 
he said. An hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him. Take thy bill, 
and sit down quickly, and write fifty. Then said he to another. And how 
much owest thou? And he said, An hundred measures of wheat. And he 
said unto him, Take thy bill, and write fourscore. And the lord commended 
the unjust steward, because he had done wisely : for the children of this 
world are in their generation wiser than the children of light. — Luke xvi. 1-8. 

The great lesson which our Lord dr<aws from the 
parable I have read, is contained in the last verse, the 8th : 
'' The children of this world are, in their generation, 
wiser than the children of light." This is the only prac- 
tical maxim which he deduces from the narrative. We are 
not warranted in constructing on the narrative alien lessons, 
or extorting from it inferences it is not meant to teach. 

I may explain, first of all, that the ^'lord'' here spoken 
of was an ancient nobleman of very high rank^j-probably 
a satrap, or the governor of a very large district of 
country. The ^^ steward" was a very responsible ofiicer, 
corresponding in some degree to a prime minister or a 
treasurer — a person invested with great power, and having 



252 FORESHADOWS. 

only to render annually to his lord his accounts of all his 
expenditure and receipts. 

It appears that this steward was accused. The words 
of the parable are, " The same was accused unto him that 
he had wasted his goods." From the mere naked ex- 
pression ('<' accused/' it might he supposed, and has been 
supposed by some, that he was accused falsely. But this 
may be settled by a reference to the use of the word in 
the prophet Daniel, (chap. iii. 8,) where we read that 
^' certain Chaldeans came near, and accused the Jews." 
Accused them of what ? Of worshi|)ping the true God, 
and not worshipping the gods of the heathen — ^an accusa- 
tion so far just, because it was sustained by the facts of 
the case, but yet very malignant. This steward may 
have been accused malignantly ; he may have been accused 
out of spite by those who detested him, but he was not 
accused falsely. He was justly accused of the crime ; and 
of that crime there is no extenuation, or apology, or vin- 
dication attempted throughout the parable. 

The master, or the lord of the steward — -the satrap or 
the governor — sends for him, and addresses him in lan- 
guage severe from its gentleness : '^ How is this that I hear 
this of thee?" Never is rebuke so poignant as when it 
is conveyed in soft and gentle accents. It is a great mis- 
take to suppose that outrageous language is the best 
vehicle of censure. That rebuke pierces the deepest, which 
is clothed in the language of love ; and the most sensitive 
heart always feels most the rebuke that comes from the lips 
of one that is loved. ^^ How is it that I hear this of thee ? 
— thee, whom I had intrusted with all; thee, whom I 
have treated as a confidential servant ; thee, whom I have 
selected for thine honesty, raised from a lowly position, 
and placed, as it were, at my right hand — how is it that I 
hear this of thee. I am surprised, I am disappointed, I 



THE TWO GENERATIONS. 253 

am grieved ; it is in sorrow that I find thee guilty. We 
must part ; give an account of thy stewardship ; thou canst 
no longer remain in the office the responsibilities of which 
thou hast violated ; get ready, therefore, all thine accomits, 
and lay them before me without delay." Miserable must 
have been that man's feeling. Honesty has within it an 
inner radiance that makes the blackest clouds of affliction 
bright ; but conscious crime, with desolation without, and 
no compensatory joy within, must be misery, wretchedness, 
remorse. Nobody knows what happiness is concentrated 
in doing what is right ; it is God's law that the highest 
duty is the highest happiness, and that misery begins, and 
is augmented, in the ratio in which w^e depart from duty. 

The steward assumed, as we perceive, that such dis- 
honesty was sure of detection. He '^said within him- 
self. What shall I do ? for my lord taketh away from me 
the stewardship: I cannot dig: to beg lam ashamed." 
His own consciencejsmote him ; he attempted no excuse ; 
he felt that he was detected, and that nothing could be 
said in his defence, and he therefore sets about making a 
provision for what contingencies were to come. The apho- 
rism repeated for many hundred years is still true — 
" Honesty is the best policy." No man ever gets rich 
with that which is not his own. A little, with the con- 
science at peace with God and man, is sweet ; much, amid 
the fever of remorse, generates no happiness. When the 
steward was detected, he had no sense of the baseness of 
his conduct, and ingratitude to so affectionate a lord and 
master ; but, in the exercise of intense selfishness, he sets 
about making the best of the circumstances, and trying, 
from the wreck, to get something that would float him to a 
quiet and peaceful haven. «' What shall I do ?" he says ; 
'' this at all events I must do ; I will make the very best 
of my position that I can ; I will try at least to break my 

II. SER. 22 



254 FORESHADOWS. 

fall ; I will not think of any thing wrong I may have done, 
I will not try to make amends to my lord, but I will try to 
make a provision for myself. How shall I go about it?" 
He sets his wits to work, concentrating all his thoughts 
upon his position, and says, ^' I cannot dig, I have not 
been accustomed to hard work, my hands are too tender, 
my habits are too delicate, it is impossible that I can stand 
the wear and tear and toil of husbandry ; this is out of 
my power, physically I am unfit for that. Then I am 
ashamed to beg." Strange it^^is, but true, that the man 
should be ashamed of begging who was not ashamed of 
stealing! — strange that he would rather be a detected 
criminal than a discovered beggar ! And yet have we 
not something analogous to this in the current feeling 
of the world ? Many a man would rather be thought a 
clever rogue than a stupid, but honest man. In this 
world, to be clever compensates too often for obliquities of 
character in the depraved estimate of degraded man; 
whereas to be honest, and upright, and good, and true, if 
not accompanied with brilliancy of genius, is reckoned no 
very great merit. And yet I believe with the poet that 
^^ an honest man [using the word ^'honest" in its Latin and 
in its Scottish sense] is the noblest work of God." And 
that man who is what he should be, in spite of circum- 
stances pressing toward an opposite direction, is a more 
glorious spectacle than Milton, Shakspeare, or Napoleon. 
A holy heart is more beautiful by far than genius — and 
surely more precious before God. 

What, in his critical position, was the plan the steward 
hit upon ? He could not dig — there was the impossibility 
of his position ; he would not beg, there lay the pride of 
his nature, for this very modest man, who did not fear to 
steal, was ashamed to be found begging. He hits then 
upon a very clever plan— for rogues are clever, and dis- 



THE TWO GENERATIONS. 255 

lioncst men arc often found to have very sharp ^vits, — a 
plan that would enable him to revenge himself upon his 
lord for turning him away, and that would also help him, 
in his guilty necessities, to better his now desperate cir- 
cumstances. How sad it is that genius — that great pre- 
rogative, that emanation and spark of deity — should be 
so debased and degraded that it can prostrate itself to be 
a mere tool and hack to a corrupt heart, and hire itself to 
invent schemes for gratifying its corruptions, and minis- 
tering to its lusts ! His plan is this : he goes to each 
person who owed his lord money for goods received. '' Ho 
said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my lord ? 
And he said, An hundred measures of oil. And he said unto 
him. Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty. 
Then said he to another. And how much owest thou? And 
he said. An hundred measures of wheat. And he said 
unto him. Take thy bill and write fourscore." The ^'bill" 
seems to have been a note of hand, in which the party 
that received the oil and the wheat recognised the fact 
that he had received a specific amount at a certain price, 
and was bound to pay at a certain time. The steward in 
all probability said, '' Give me up the old document, note, 
or bill, and let us cancel it; and as I am still in authority 
and not yet dismissed till I give an account of my steward- 
ship, we will write out a new bill ; you will have the ad- 
vantage of getting so much more goods, and paying so 
much less money, and then I shall have done such a favour 
to you, that you will give me a home, when my master 
turns me about my business." Or, perhaps, his plan was 
to alter the figures — to turn a ^'0" into a "9," or add a 
^^ 0" to a "1"; or do some of those tricks which are 
known among the most degraded in trade. '' So that 
you will have the advantage of a large quantity of goods, 
and my master Avill have the disadvantage of a very little 



256 FORESHADOWS. 

sum for it ; and I shall have the less to account for, and 
hope, for obliging you, that you will, in turn, quietly and 
secretly oblige me/' Here is the whole policy that he 
pursued — cunning, subtle, and, I doubt not, temporarily, 
though not permanently, successful. 

Then it is immediately added, «' And the lord commended 
the unjust steward." I need not remark that "the lord" 
is the master of the steward spoken of throughout the pa- 
rable : it would be very foolish and very wrong for any one 
to suppose that it is the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the lord 
who is spoken of in the previous verses. <^^A certain rich 
man," we are told, "had a steward." "The steward said 
within himself, what shall I do, for ^my lord' taketh away 
from me the stewardship." This same "my lord" who is 
here spoken of is the party who commended the unjust 
steward. He was -not the Lord Jesus. His master com- 
mended him "because he had done wisely." Our transla- 
tion is not perfectly accurate. It would be better trans- 
lated "prudently," "cleverly," "cunningly," because wis- 
dom is always associated with rectitude; cunning and 
cleverness are more appropriately associated with crime. 
In order to see the force of this commendation, we must 
observe that the conduct of the steward had two aspects 
— one aspect, its dishonesty, on which his master pro- 
nounced no eulogium ; the other, its cleverness, its talent, 
its tact, its management, on which his master did pro- 
nounce an eulogium. Perhaps the lord of the steward was 
very much of the same character as the steward himself, 
and had not the least objection to the crime, but only to 
the injury it did to himself; perhaps he was struck with 
the tact and ability of the steward, and, having no great 
or delicate sense of moral obligation and responsibility 
himself, broke forth into high praise of the talent dis- 
played; while, probably, he stormed and raged at the loss 



THE TWO GENERATIONS. 257 

he had hmiself sustained. He could admire his talent; he 
would have admired and applauded the crime, if the crime 
had not touched himself, and made him poorer than he 
wished to be. 

Is it not true, that every deed of a desperate, bold, bad 
man, has something in it which catches the fancy, and 
charms by its brilliancy? Is it not fact, that in the case 
of one criminal, while you condemn the crime, you cannot 
but admire, or rather wonder at, the brilliancy with which 
he executed it ; you reprobate the action, and yet you are 
struck with the tact and the talent with which that action 
is done ; you cannot but condemn the dishonesty, and j^et 
you are impressed with the far-seeing and calculating 
scheme with which it is connected. It is possible to sepa- 
rate the cunning from the crime, and yet not make one an 
atonement or apology for the other. 

At this point I am reminded of the importance of no- 
ticing what is the greatest mischief done by many novel- 
ists, in their portraits of wicked men. Their policy is 
this : they take for a hero some criminal of great noto- 
riety; their prime object being, perhaps, to sell the book, 
and I speak only of the apparent object that lies upon 
the face of it, they select the most notorious roud from 
the calendars of Newgate ; they tone down, with a mas- 
ter touch, all his infamy, his impurity, his dishonesty, 
his shame ; and they exalt, and throw into the foreground, 
arrayed in the most brilliant colours, his boldness, his de- 
cision, his tact, his talent : exaggerating the brilliant in 
his character ; softening and removing into the distance 
the inherent repulsiveness of his crimes. The young mind 
reads such a novel ; it sees brilliancy of conduct associated 
with depravity of heart, and in its inexperience, and from 
its deep susceptibility, it comes to admire the hero when 
it should hate the criminal. Hence if novelists write Jack 



258 FORESHADOWS. 

Shephards for the press, and reading libraries adopt them, 
we must be prepared with the penal colony and capital 
convictions. This, then, is the danger of the novel ; the 
writers seize upon the bright spots irradiated by intellec- 
tual light, and in these they set off criminality that cannot 
be too darkly coloured. This is very much the case in 
plays. We generally find that the hero of the plot has a 
great deal of wickedness and depravity about him, but a 
good deal of off-hand generosity and sparkling talent. If 
he is a man of genius, then the play lets him be impudent; 
if he is a man of rank, the play gives him license to be 
contemptuous, and to refuse to pay his bills or cheat cle- 
verly the poor tradesman ; or if he be a brave soldier, he 
is allowed to fight duels ; or if he be a man of fine ap- 
pearance, and great liberality, he is excused, perhaps 
praised, if he ruins unsuspecting innocence. Should you 
venture to denounce such persons as guilty of the greatest 
crimes, they will laugh at your puritanism, and challenge 
you to fight a duel if you suspect their word. So great 
then is the danger of the novel, the romance, and the play, 
especially when they are written by men who look at the 
results, or the proceeds, or the possible eclat, and not at 
the moral influence they are likely to exert. 

I may however remark, that there is no sin in merely 
seeing a play or a drama unexceptionably acted. I think 
there is a great deal of vulgar, foolish prejudice against 
the play, the drama, and the actor, as if these were all in 
themselves essentially and inevitably sinful. The sin lies 
in the fact which stares you in the face, that the playhouse 
is practically at present the centre of evil ; it is the first 
inducement to apprentices to open their master's till-boxes, 
and appropriate what is not their own ; one of the first 
places where the barriers of virtue are broken down, where 
indelicacy is too often in the ascendant, and no purifying 



THE TWO GENERATIONS. 059 

or counteracting element of good, as far as I know, seems 
to be in action. But if you say, ''I have that lofty tone, 
that spirituality of character, that firmness, that force of 
principle, that I could go to a playhouse, and not be the 
least touched or contaminated by doing so;" Avell if you 
can conscientiously pray before you enter, " Lord, lead us 
not into temptation," you perhaps may make the experi- 
ment, and escape untouched, without the least taint of evil. 
But are you quite sure that your son, your daughter, your 
friend, your sister, who will follow your example, and be 
exposed to the same contagion, have and will manifest a 
force of principle and a strength of character adequate to 
resist the possible evil ? You set an example which would 
be perhaps free from evil, if all the world were as firm and 
steadfast as you are ; but your example the weak, the sus- 
ceptible, may imitate, but not escape with the same un- 
touched feeling and untainted heart. The safe way in all 
questions of business, of politics, and of controversy, is to 
think twice before you decide ; but in all moral questions 
the first impression is generally the truest. If a moral 
course needs elaborate defence, you may be sure there is 
something doubtful about it. If I were to announce that 
I was going to preach on the character of the playhouse, 
I venture to assert that I should receive all sorts of letters 
defending it ; all, by an instinct truer than logic, taking it 
for granted that I should speak against it. There is a 
consciousness in most bosoms that there is something 
■svrong about present play-going which needs much logic to 
be put in a right light. 

I have thus then spoken of the two aspects which are 
often presented in men's conduct and character — the bril- 
liancy of intellect side by side with depravity of conduct. 
Let us never bring forward a brilliant mind as in any de- 
gree extenuating a depraved character. Strength of in- 



260 FORESHADOWS. 

tellect renders only more inexcusable corruption of heart. 
The one does not and ought not to relieve the other. The 
lord of the steward disentangles these two ; and if he was, 
what I supposed he may not have been, an honest and up- 
right man, he would have said, ^'I condemn the villany of 
the man ; I applaud the forethought of the man ; I separate 
the one from the other ; the one I reserve for denunciation, 
and the other I quote for illustration." Our Lord says, 
<' You have in the forethought, in the talent, in the energy, 
in the cleverness of that man a rebuke to the children of 
light. The children of this world, whose days are measured 
by it, whose hopes are bounded by it, whose fears, whose 
joys are all within it, are, in their sphere and in their cir- 
cumstances, distinguished by a talent, an energy, and force 
of character, by which the people of God are not distin- 
guished and characterized in a higher sphere, and in the 
pursuit and prospect of more glorious hopes." 

This is the great lesson that our Lord here desires to 
impress, and let us look around and see if it be not needed. 
The first feature that was developed by the steward, was 
subordinating all present things to a future provision for 
himself; his resolution, what to do for the present, was 
preparatory to what to be for the future ; he sets his wdts 
to work, not in trying to make apologies or extenuations, 
or in any respect mitigating the enormity of his crime, but 
to make the best of the present with a view to the amelio- 
ration of his circumstances in reference to the future ; and 
this point in his character our Lord submits to us for com- 
mendation. The children of this world toil at present to 
be rich, ten, twenty, thirty years hence ; they labour when 
young, in order that they may retire when old. Whether 
this be right or wrong, is not the question ; it is simply the 
fact. If we notice, for instance, the aspirant after oflSce 
and promotion — how he will deny himself, and be silent 



THE TWO GENERATIONS. 261 

where speech would be indiscreet, in order to obtain tlic 
office or the object of his ambition ; if we watch, too, the 
man of business — how he will subordinate every present 
inconvenience, in order to obtain the great profit that he 
hopes to be the result ; we shall soon see the children of 
this world are wiser in their generation than the children 
of light. Let this teach us to view the whole present in 
its bearing and its reference to the future. You are, for 
instance, in the selection of a school, to think of the world 
to come ; in the selection of a minister, you must subordi- 
nate the ecclesiastical, and think mainly of the spiritual ; 
in the selection of a profession, think whether it will ob- 
struct or advance your progress to immortal glory ; in the 
change of a residence, take into calculation, if you like, 
the beauty of the park, the age of the trees, the strength 
of the building, the convenience of the rooms, but also lift 
that curtain that separates the future from the present, and 
look at your new house in the light of an eternity to come. 
We are thus to make all things present to be seen, and felt, 
and weighed in the scales of heaven, and in the light of 
the sanctuary of God. This is the first lesson ; this steward 
looked at the present in the light of the future, and made 
the present as far as he could a ministry to his happiness 
in the future. 

We notice, in the next place, the energy and the activity 
with which the men of this generation ply their employ- 
ments, and the comparative coldness and apathy with which 
the children of light prosecute theirs. Take a thorough 
man of business in London, one who is applauded, built 
upon, quoted, and referred to as such. I do not look at 
or praise his merging his heart in the world, this is not my 
present duty, but I look simply at this point in his character 
— the energy Avith which he prosecutes the business he has 
in view ; he is early in the counting-house, he is late at the 



262 FORESHADOWS. 

ledger, he is watching against every error that may be com- 
mitted, every loss that may be sustained, and turning un- 
toward events into elements of progress, prosperity, and 
gain; he is ever ready to seize time by the fore-lock, to 
catch the favourable v^^ind while it blows, to be out upon 
the tide before it ebbs ; and you say, he does well, and 
that he will prosper. He for a corruptible ; we for an in- 
corruptible. If he so toils, so strives, so labours, so con- 
centrates his whole soul in his pursuit of the riches of mam- 
mon, do we strive to enter into the strait gate? do we fight 
the good fight ? do we so run that we may obtain ? do we, 
forgetting the things that are behind, press onward to those 
that are before ? Is it not true — too extensively true — that 
the children of this world are, in their generation, far wiser 
than the children of light? 

Let us study another point of contrast, the enthusiasm 
with which the men of this world prosecute their business. 
On the supposition that this world is all, nothing can be 
more worthy than such conduct ; on the supposition that 
this world is but the preparation for another, nothing can 
be so sad and sorrowful. Yet notice the enthusiasm of the 
men of this world. Watch the chemist in his laboratory ; 
early in the morning and late at night he is pursuing his 
tests, his analyses, aiid combinations. Watch that geologist 
in his museum ; why he spends more time over an old limb 
of some old fossil, or a small bone that belongs to some 
ichthyosaurian monster, before the flood, than a Christian 
spends over the whole word of God. Notice that astrono- 
mer in his observatory, morning, noon, and night ; if a 
comet is in the infinitely remote horizon, he catches the 
first beam of it ; if a new star comes within the range of 
his telescope, he is sure to see it and make it known. Look 
at the musician, the barrister, the physician, the sailor on 
the deck, the soldier in the field — with what enthusiasm, 



THE TWO GENERATIONS. 20^, 

with what singleness of eye, with what energy of heart they 
prosecute the objects that are precious and important in 
their estimate, and in their judgment! But compare with 
this the coldness with which we pray, the callousness with 
which we hear. Christian tradesmen tell us they cannot 
afford to be heart and soul Christian; they must concen- 
trate their whole soul upon each penny, upon each pound, 
upon all the profit, or they would lose all, would have to 
put up their shutters, and retire from business altogether. 
This is then a surrender of religion as a holocaust to the 
world. Yet what energy is theirs ! Verily, the children 
of this world are, in their generation, much wiser than 
the children of light. Let us look around us; what do Ave 
see? Earnestness in the market, earnestness in the par- 
liament, earnestness in the courts of law, earnestness in 
the navy, earnestness in the army, earnestness every^vhere, 
except where its intensity should be the greatest, and 
where it should glow and burn with inextinguishable 
splendour. We shall be charged at the judgment-day, if 
we miss the great prize, with this terrible and corroding 
recollection — that we expended more earnestness and en- 
thusiasm in gaining five per cent, upon a speculation, than 
ever we expended in seeking that knowledge beside which 
all knowledge becomes tame, and that gain beside which 
all gain is but loss. Depend upon it, it is not more logic 
that we want, but more life in our hearts and in our con- 
sciences ; and I am sure of this, that earnestness, right- 
down earnestness in the chapel, will be a match any day 
for coldness in a cathedral ; I am convinced that a bare- 
footed Carmelite friar preaching in a parish the supersti- 
tions of Rome will make many converts, while the starch- 
ed rector, or the courtier bishop, standing on their digni- 
ties and dues, will make none at all. We may rest assured 
that the reason why delusion spreads is, because it has 



264 FOEESHADOWS. 

earnest men to spread it; the reason why living Christian- 
ity falters, hangs back^ and dies upon the lips that utter 
it, is just because there is so little intensity of purpose and 
energy of heart manifested in its diffusion. I speak of 
natural energy, of natural earnestness; and I appeal to 
every man if it be not true that in the army, in the navy, 
in the cabinet, in the parliament, in the palace, every- 
where the children of this world are, in their generation, 
wiser than the children of light. 

Notice in the next place, theunity with which the chil- 
dren of this world act. Let there be a corporation or a 
company formed for the promotion of some great object; 
and we find how cleverly they submerge all their intestine 
disputes, in order to reap the golden harvest that they have 
in view. Take an illustration from the army : let the foe 
be in sight, let the enemy be approaching, do you ever hear 
that the Scottish branch of the army falls foul of the 
English, or that either turns round, and fires upon the 
Irish? No, they merge these little disj?Utes, which were 
strong and rampant enough in their barracks, and combine, 
and coalesce, and concentrate all in the vindication of the 
throne under whose shadow they are happy, and fight in 
the maintenance of that flag wiiich has waved for a thou- 
sand years over the field of victory. Why should it not 
be so among Christians? Why should the Churchman turn 
round upon the Dissenter, and the Dissenter upon the 
Churchman, knowing that the devil is powerful enough, 
that darkness is thick enough, that the enemies of our com- 
mon Christianity are numerous enough, to engage all the 
energies of all? Why is it, I ask, that the children of 
light should quarrel about crotchets, about church govern- 
ment, about church and state, when all their might, enthu- 
siasm, energy, prayer, and labour are demanded for the 
spread and maintenance of the gospel of Christ? Why 



THE TWO GENERATIONS. 205 

should it be that in this matter the children of this world 
are so much wiser than the children of light ? 

Having noticed these points of contrast, I will notice one 
more, — the liberality of the children of this world. Let 
there be a national gallery to be raised for pictures, a play- 
house, or an opera-house, or any one thing to be effected 
that may be, in itself, perfectly harmless, and how rea- 
dily is it accomplished ! I am not speaking of the nature 
of the thing; I am speaking of the liberality of the 
persons that support it. I read only the other day 
of a person who laid out nearly c£200,000 in the purchase 
of pictures. I am not condemning that ; one rejoices that 
art, painting, poetry, music, should have such patrons. Let 
an oratorio be announced at Exeter Hall, and though every 
one pays five shillings or ten shillings to be admitted, it 
will probably be crow^ded; but let a sermon be announced 
in it on a week-day evening, and though people are admit- 
ted gratis, you will find probably very few in comparison 
present. How is this? Let the children of this world 
propose any thing, and thousands come to support it; they 
say money is wanted for some patriotic thing, and money 
is poured in to secure it. But how little is given, compara- 
tively, for the gospel, the distribution of the Bible, the ex- 
tension of Christianity at home and abroad ! Are we really 
aware that more than ten times the amount of all that is 
given to Bible and missionary societies, is given in the shape 
of duty upon ardent spirits ? Are we rightly informed that 
in Scotland, while they are fighting and quarrelling with 
each other, both Free Seceders, United Seceders, and 
Churchmen are spending more upon whiskey than they 
give to spread the gospel, uphold the Bible, or maintain the 
church of Christ ! These things ought not to be ; but they 
teach us, and teach us painfully, and with conscious defi- 
ciency on our own part, that the children of this world are, 

II. SER. 23 



266 FORESHADOWS. 

in their generation, more liberal, more energetic, more wise 
than the children of light. 

But our Lord draws another lesson from this, and to 
that I would very briefly advert: ^'I say unto you, make 
to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, 
that when ye fail they may receive you into everlasting 
habitations." The mammon of unrighteousness here, I 
believe, is simply a contrast with the other ^^ riches." It 
does not mean that you are to take money that is not your 
own, or money that is unrighteously obtained ; but simply 
money which, contrasted wdth the ^^true riches," is the 
worldly, the earthly, and the unrighteous mammon ; and 
so to make it, ^'that when ye fail, they may receive you 
into everlasting habitations." This is a very important 
lesson in an age, when the temple of mammon seems to 
have taken the place of that of Moloch, when man's rea- 
son is made a mere book-keeper, and man's soul is made a 
mere implement of trade, and man's heart is made a mere 
mill, and life is lost in livelihood. I say, such a lesson as 
that which is here given is a very important one. What 
does it mean ? It does not say, ^^make to yourselves merit 
of the mammon of unrighteousness ;" nor, ^'make to your- 
selves a title to heaven by the mammon of unrighteous- 
ness ;" nor, ^^make to yourselves an atonement by bestow- 
ing the mammon of unrighteousness." The meaning is, 
make to yourselves friends by means of the mammon of 
unrighteousness, or by bestowing liberally your money, in 
clothing the naked, in feeding the hungry, in giving water 
to the thirsty ; make to yourselves friends of those who 
are either callous or positively hostile ; so that when ye 
fail — that is, when ye die — these, the objects of your 
bounty, the objects of your Christian beneficence, being 
the children of God, may Be found standing at the gates 
of glory, to welcome you to their happy choirs, as bene- 



THE TWO GENERATIONS. 267 

factors wliosc beneficence tliey tasted and were delighted 
with on earth. This is the plain sense of the passage. It 
means that thus your wealth may be as wings, not weights ; 
that the mammon of unrighteousness may be transmuted 
into the true riches. It does not say that you will gain 
heaven by your money ; but it does show, that by giving 
money to Christ's people, and to Christ's cause, you raise 
up persons who will pray for you on earth; and you will 
find that if these people have been made Christians' by 
your means, they will be found standing at the gates of 
glory, bidding you welcome into that place into which they 
have entered before you; you adding to the thrill of joy 
that pervades them, and they, by their reception, aug- 
menting the joy of which you then have a foretaste. That 
this idea is taught in Scripture, is plain from such passages 
as this : '' Charge them that are rich in this world, that 
they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but 
in the living God, who giveth us all things richly to enjoy; 
that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready 
to distribute, willing to communicate, laying up in store 
for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, 
that they may lay hold upon eternal life." Thus we are 
taught, that what you lay out upon the people of God, in 
feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, instructing the 
ignorant, in Bibles, in bread, in missions, is the only 
money that can never perish. If the storm that has swept 
the continent of Europe shall be permitted, in righteous 
retribution, to sweep our land also, then the only money 
that cannot be taken from you is, not that which is fixed 
in your acres, or deposited in the funds, but that which 
has preceded you in spreading the glorious gospel, minis- 
tering to the naked, enlightening the ignorant, feeding the 
hungry, and doing good, as you have opportunity, unto all 
men. It is Christians, of course, that arc addressed here, 



268 FORESHADOWS. 

when it is said, ^«Make to yourselves friends of the un- 
righteous mammon;" lay up for yourselves unsearchable 
richeSj and make the riches that perish the means of your 
doing so. This is in perfect harmony with such passages 
as these: "With good will doing service, as to the Lord, 
and not to men ; knowing that whatsoever good thing any 
man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord." There 
is the doctrine of Christian reward. Christ alone, I have 
repeated, is the foundation of our acceptance, the Holy 
Spirit alone our sanctifier for glory ; and yet each man's 
happiness is augmented in the ratio in which each man 
has laid out the talent which God has given to him. Again, 
"Whosoever shall give to one of these little ones a cup of 
cold water in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, 
he shall not lose his reward." "Blessed are the dead that 
die in the Lord ; they rest from their labours, and their 
w^orks do follow them" — not precede them, you will ob- 
serve, but follow them as seals and evidences of what they 
were ; the Lord our righteousness shall still have all the 
glory of our forgiveness; the Lord the Spirit shall still 
have all the glory of our fitness for heaven. In other 
words, we are taught here to do what constitutes the great 
happiness of man — that is, to be beneficent, to be good. 
To do good is, to a Christian, the very highest happiness. 
Those words in our language which mean the highest hap- 
piness, are words which mean being out of self, beyond 
oneself: "ecstasy," standing out of self ; "rapture," car- 
ried away from self; " transport," borne beyond self. All 
the words which denote the highest happiness imply the 
least selfishness, and doing the greatest good to others. 
Our Lord himself has defined such happiness in these 
words, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." And 
that man's Christianity has not reached its meridian 
brightness who cannot say, "I have felt more happiness 



THE TWO GENEIlATKn'S. 269 

in giving that sovereign to that poor man, than I ever felt 
in winning that sovereign as the rewoTcl of my hibours." 
And let me ask, what can be more delightful than to make 
the heart of the orphan glad, and the widow's soul to sing 
for joy? What can be more joyous than to snatch spoils 
from Satan, and make them trophies of the kingdom of 
heaven ? What can be greater delight to us than to aug- 
ment that current that rises from below, and will be lost 
in the joys and splendours of the everlasting main ? What 
can be more worthy of a Christian and a redeemed soul, 
than to make oneself to be felt as a shower of blessings, so 
that when we leave the world, the world shall feel that we 
have neither been a curse nor a blank to it, but a gigantic 
and a lasting blessing ? To be pronounced good is better 
than to be pronounced great ; and he who does the highest 
good is he that gives evidence of the highest principle, 
and so will have the experience of the greatest happiness. 
One word in concluding this parable. Recollect that 
we are all stewards. ^' Give an account of thy steward- 
ship," will be addressed to every man. Each man has his 
property, his rank, his talent, his influence, his power, 
whatever it be, however small, as a stewardship ; and each 
must answer to God how he has made use of that steward- 
ship. How dreadful, if the only reminiscence should be 
this : '' I have used the mighty influence which my position 
in society gave me in countless mischievous courses^, or in 
doing nothing at all for those amid whom I was placed !" 
How sad to another will be such a reminiscence as this ; 
^' I have used money in horse-racing, in gambling, in all 
sorts of amusement, and there is not one widow tliat can 
bless me, nor one orphan that can thank me, nor one com- 
forted soul that can say, 'I got a Bible, 'which if you had 
not given, I never should have received !' " What a ter- 
rible reminiscence will this be at the day of judgment : 



270 FORESHADOWS. 

^^My talent, which God gave me, I have used in writing 
novels, in composing plays, in gilding the bad side, in 
darkening the bright, the holy, and the good ; I have used 
all my talent in novels, in puns, in witticisms, in any thing 
and every thing except giving a tribute of glory to Him 
from whose altar it was kindled, and shedding light upon 
the path of the pilgrim who had otherwise perished!" 
What a reminiscence will it be for us, if we recollect at 
the judgment-seat, "We heard in that place many a faith- 
ful and honest sermon ; this we can say, that if we have 
not had the truth made brilliant, we have had the truth 
honestly, and bluntly, and plainly spoken ; we have had 
the Bible half a century ; we have heard the gospel ten, 
fifteen, twenty years ; we have been appealed to for mis- 
sions, and for churches, and for schools ; and lo ! we laid 
out as much last week upon some little ornament for the 
drawing-room as we ever laid out in spreading Bibles, in 
extending the gospel, in clothing the naked, in feeding the 
hungry !" My dear friends, ought these things to be so? 
I am perfectly sure of this, that the church of Christ has 
never yet done what it ought to have done. All we have 
ever given have been superfluities. No man yet ever 
stinted himself, or very few at least, to do a grand benefi- 
cent act which would make the Avorld bettel*, holier, hap- 
pier. In a few years, every one of us must render an ac- 
count to God. The address will be made to us, "Give an 
account of thy stewardship." Then let us take a leaf 
from the book of the dishonest steward ; let us repudiate 
his dishonesty; let us adopt his energy, his talent, his 
tact ; let us concentrate all we have, all we say, upon the 
main and master end, namely, seeking first the kingdom 
of God and his righteousness, and then all other things 
will be added tmto us. In education, seek to make your 
children Christians first; leave accomplishments for the 



THE TWO GENERxiTIONS. 07 j 

postscript. In selecting a minister to preach tlie gospel 
to you, seek first of all a faithful man, a spiritual man, an 
honest man; next an eloquent man, a Churchman or a 
Dissenter. In providing for the future, first the soul, that 
is the main thing ; next the poor tent, which must soon be 
struck, that the soul may resume its march to immortality. 
Do not provide for the future up to death, and leave the 
greater part of the journey altogether unprovided for. Look 
not into the depths of that ruin which lost souls have pre- 
pared for themselves ; but look rather to the heights of that 
glory which disinterested love, which precious blood, which a 
glorious Saviour, in his sovereignty, and in his mercy, and 
in his grace, has procured for us. xind when I ask you, 
^'IIow much owest thou unto my Lord?" may the Spirit 
of God help you to feel, and help me to feel, that we owe 
all we are, and all we hope for, and ten thousand times ten 
thousand more than heart can conceive, or tongue can tell ! 
When at length w^e are admitted into that millennial bliss, 
of which our highest spiritual enjoyment now^ is but a faint 
prelibation, how surprised shall we be to find that any man 
so clave to things temporal, that he lost all interest in 
things eternal ; and was so wise about the world that was, 
that he missed his portion in the world that is. 



272 



LECTUEB XVIL 



FORGIVEN AND FOUaiVINa. 

Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would 
take account of his servants. And when he had begun to reckon, one was 
brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. Bat forasmuch as 
he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and 
children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. The servant there- 
fore fell down, and worshipped him, saying. Lord, have patience with me, 
and I will pay thee all. Then the lord of that servant was moved with com- 
passion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt. But the same servant 
went out, and found one of his fellow-servants, which owed him an hundred 
pence : and he laid, hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying. Pay 
me that thou owest. And his fellow-servant fell down at his feet, and be- 
sought him, sp.ying. Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And he 
would not : but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. 
So when his fellow-servants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and 
came and told unto their lord all that was done. Then his lord, after that 
he had called him, said unto him, thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all 
that debt, because thou desiredst me ; shouldest not thou also have had com- 
passion on thy fellow- servant, even as I had pity on thee? And his lord 
was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that 
was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, 
if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses. — 
Matt, xviii. 23-35. 

A CONSIDERABLE portion of the chapter from which the 
present parable is taken, relates to the law and the con- 
dition of mutual forgiveness. It is explained how all 
Christians are to proceed, who fancy they have, or really 
have, just cause of complaint of the treatment which they 
have experienced from a brother. We are told in the 
15th verse, ^'If thy brother shall trespass against thee, 
(that is, shall commit any offence against thee,) go and tell 
him his fault between him and thee alone." Do not go 



FORGIVEX AND FORGIVING. 273 

s,nd state Avliat lie has done beliind his back. When one 
tells of the Avrong-doing of another in the absence of the 
party accused, he should not be listened to. Either he 
speaks what is untrue, which would be very bad, or he is 
a tale-bearer, which is scarcely less so, or he has forgotten 
the prescription of his Lord, to go first to the oflcnder, 
and ^'tell him his fault between him and thee alone." 
" Then if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother." 
But suppose he should be one of those, who are not rare 
occurrences in the world, wdio have so much self-esteem, 
so much confidence in their own infallibility, where it may 
after all be the least possible ; and that he wdll not listen 
to any such mutual explanation as that which is here pre- 
scribed. ''Then take with thee one or two more, (one or 
two Christian friends,) that in the mouth of two or three 
witnesses, every word may be established." If he indi- 
cate the bad features that will not be reconciled, that wdll 
not suffer him to be reconciled by a private interview, 
then, that he may be incapable of misrepresenting the 
results of w^hat you say, and of putting a colouring upon 
them which they ought not to have, on this and on other 
accounts, take with thee one or two Christian, trustw^orthy 
men ; let them be witnesses of your candour, of your 
kindness, of your willingness to concede every prejudice 
in order to conciliate a brother. But he may be one of 
those, who will neither be persuaded by a private nor by 
a social interview. Then you must take an ulterior step : 
" If he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church." 
This church is plainly not the church universal. It cannot 
mean the church in the Roman Catholic sense of that 
word, because it would be utterly impossible to tell it to 
them ; or, if it meant the church representative, it cannot 
be the head of it, as he is called, because no two private 
Christians quarrelling would be regarded by the pope, or 



274 FORESHADOWS. 

• 

listened to ; he would not adjust so paltry and individual 
a dispute. But what is meant by telling it to the church ? 
It must be, to the church congregational. There is the 
church catholic ; there may be the church national, and 
there is the church congregational. It would seem that 
the church congregational is meant here, either in its 
collective, or representative, or other shape in which it 
may be reasonably and properly accessible. I need not 
say, that there cannot be a more gross perversion of the 
passage, than the use of it as a text for authorizing one to 
appeal, not to Scripture, but to what is called ^' the 
church," for the settlement of doctrinal interpretation 
and disputes. There is nothing in it at all about doc- 
trines ; it does not contain one syllable about orthodoxy 
or heresy. We are not warranted to ask the opinion of 
the church, as to what is truth or what is error, as far as 
this passage is concerned ; it relates to private, personal 
quarrels, and not to disputes about interpretations of 
Scripture. ^' Then, if he will not hear the church, let 
him be to thee as an heathen man and a publican." He 
must be separated from the church ; he is an unmanageable 
member of it, until he can act in consistency and harmony 
with the corporate body, of which he professes to be a 
member. 

After the Lord has explained this, and the people have 
listened to his discourse, Peter comes to him and puts a 
question: ^^ How often shall my brother sin against me 
and I forgive him?" Shall it extend to seven times ? Peter 
plainly understood that the gospel was the great gospel of 
forgiveness. He understood that its leading characteristic 
was forgiveness from God, in order that we also may pro- 
ceed to forgive one another. Probably, however, there 
still lingered in his mind a Jewish prejudice. The Jews 
believed that they were to forgive once, twice, and thrice^ 



FORGIVEN AND FOllGIVING. 275 

but that the fourth offence committed by one party against 
the same party, was not to be forgiven. Now Peter, 
feeling that the gospel was a dispensation of larger grace 
than the law, doubles the number, and says, By our Jewish 
law we are to forgive three times only, but I suppose, as 
the gospel is a dispensation of greater grace, I may double 
the number, and say, that one may forgive his brother six 
or seven times. Our blessed Lord instantly replies to 
him, in a way which extinguishes all arithmetic, all me- 
chanics, all morality by measure or by weight, and esta- 
blishes the great principle of action, namely, love. Giving 
a definite number for an indefinite, he says, You must for- 
give not only three times, like the Jew, who sought " an 
eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth;" not merely, 
Peter, seven times, as you, with your lingering prejudices, 
slowly yielding to Christian light, would suggest ; but you 
must forgive him, if need be, seventy times seven, that is 
to say, there must be no limit to your forgiveness. God 
forgives you all at twenty, thirty, or seventy years of 
age, and you must forgive all offences committed against 
you by your brother. Perhaps also there may be some 
reference here to the fact, that seven is in Scripture the 
perfect number ; the seven days making one week, the 
seven colours in the rainbow making one pure light, the 
seven sounds making the complete musical scale. Seven 
times, in Scripture, is constantly used to denote perfection. 
It may also refer to the jubilee-day, occurring in the seven 
times seven years, when all debts were remitted — when 
every creditor ceased to have a claim, and every debtor to 
owe any thing to his creditor. 

Our Lord, in order to impress the abstract truth which 
has been stated, gives a parable (which is teaching from 
history or from nature what he is inculcating on Peter in 
practice) of a certain king, who took an account of his 



276 FORESIIADOAVS. 

servants ; and the object of the parable is to show the 
largeness of the love of God, and the littleness of the 
love of man ; the riches that are in the bosom of Deity, 
and the poverty of spirit that is in the bosom of man. 
This king, or lord, is said to have instituted a taking an 
account of his servants — ^^ which would take an account 
of his servants." This does not refer to the judgment- 
day. It is the same as the command addressed to the 
steward, '^ Give an account of thy stewardship," and means 
simply to balance or to reckon lip an account, which would 
be done at stated intervals, preliminary to the winding up 
of the whole concerns of a lifetime. And this process of 
balancing accounts is a process with which w^e must be in 
our own hearts familiar. Conscience is often the seat of 
it — the counting-house the place in which it is done ; and 
the sick-bed, loss, trial, affliction are the occasions that 
suggest it and bring it about. The way that God creates 
our taking account, is by some faithful exhibition of the 
claims, the height, the depth, the length, and breadth of 
a holy and exacting law ; or by clearing off all the weeds, 
and mists, and prejudices that conceal our sins from our 
own inspection, and turning the eye inward, in order to 
see them. Or he makes this taking of account between 
us and him begin by touching conscience with his finger, 
casting a living spark into the bosom, and so inspiring it 
to reason and take account of righteousness, and temper- 
ance, and judgment. And he makes this process go on 
until we have the conviction rooted in our inmost souls, 
that by the deeds of the law no flesh can be justified. 

The difficulty that first occurs in the parable, relates to 
the person Avho is called the servant of the Lord, and the 
large amount which this servant owed. The amount is to 
be determined first by a consideration whether the talents 
were of gold or silver. If the servant owed ten thousand 



FORGIVEN AND FOIIGIVING. 277 

talents of gold, the sum -syould amount to about three mil- 
lions sterling; but if it be taken as talents of silver, which 
is the more probable calculation, it would not amount to 
more than £200,000. With respect to the servant, it is 
not necessarily implied that he was a menial servant. The 
prime minister of England is called the queen's servant; 
the highest officer in the state is a servant of the queen. 
So this servant of the king may have been a high official, 
an exarch, he may have been a satrap, as they were called 
in ancient times, or a farmer of revenues, or chancellor of 
the exchequer, or lord high treasurer, or some great officer 
in the state, who had much in his power, who might be 
guilty of much dishonesty, or exhibit much faithfulness. 
He Yfas not, therefore, necessarily a menial servant. By 
recollecting this fact, we see how it happens that he might 
-have owed such and so large a sum. 

It is said, that the king began to take an account. Every 
clause and syllable in this parable is instinct with meaning. 
We may miss the true meaning, but w^e cannot fail to notice 
the beauty, and harmony, and expressive bearing of every 
clause upon the grand conclusion of the parable. It is 
said, the king had begun to reckon. And, first, he laid 
hold of one of his servants — an eminent one, it may be, 
but he was, to use the common expression, '' accidentally" 
the first. He did not select the greatest debtor, but the 
very first that came to his hand, and him he found to be a 
great defaulter — one that owed a very large sum ; teaching 
us that there may have been others that owed him much 
more, that this one may have been the lightest and not the 
heaviest debtor ; and thus far suggesting to us. If thou, 
Lord, shouldest — not select the greatest sinner and mark 
Ids iniquity — but, if thou shouldest mark iniquity — yours, 
mine, or anybody's — who, who could stand? 

This servant, we read in the next clause, was '^brought 

II. SER. 24: 



278 FOEESIIADOAVS. 

unto him," wlien he had begun to reckon. ^^One was 
brought unto hmi, Avhich owed him ten thousand talents." 
This also is expressive. The man was brought unto him ; 
he never would have come himself. The last thing that a 
debtor that cannot pay will do, is to face his creditor. 
What a remarkable fact is this ! There is something in sin 
that makes it skulk and shrink into a nook, and court dark- 
ness. A man that cannot bear to look you in the face has 
something within that does not sit comfortably there. '^ He 
that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may 
be made manifest that they are wrought in God." Thus 
this conscious debtor would not have come to his creditor 
spontaneously, of his own free-will, because sin dislikes 
that which reminds it of its turpitude. And if this was 
true of this debtor in reference to his creditor, it is no less 
so of us debtors in reference to our great creditor, God. 
What is the character of sin ? It keeps the sinner at a 
distance from God. This is the very first and the most 
permanent effect that is produced by sin; so that instead 
of going with our sin to God's mercy to have it all expunged, 
we keep at a distance from God. And what is the effect 
of our keeping at a distance from him? That we are trea- 
suring up additional debt and wrath against the day of 
Avrath. Therefore, it is never until we see God, not in the 
light of a creditor, (that is the natural man's light,) but in 
the light of a Father, that we go to him. It is not until 
we see God in his paternal character, that we can go to 
him, and say. Forgive us. Who is it that can pray, '^For- 
give us our debts as we forgive our debtors?" The people 
that can say, ^' Our Father which art in heaven." No man 
ever prayed aright, till he prayed as a child before a fa- 
ther ; and no man ever confessed his sins aright, until he 
confessed those sins, not as a criminal thrust into the pre- 



FORGIVEN AND FORGIVING. 279 

scnce of a judge, but as a child seeking shelter in the 
bosom of a father. 

We read in the 25th verse, <^' Forasmuch as he had not 
to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, 
and children, and payment to be made." By the Roman 
law, a man's wife and children were his goods and chattels ; 
they were forfeited by his crime, and might be made slaves ; 
and even by the Jewish law the punishment reached also 
those that^ were beneath him. So far this teaches us a very 
important lesson : that sin in the head of a house, or of a 
province, or of a nation, brings down judgment upon infe- 
rior rulers, upon children, upon w^ife, upon all that is his. 
In other words, it shows that visiting the sins of the fathers 
upon the children, is not a mere dry, Calvinistic dogma, as 
it has been called, but that it is providentially and actually 
true : it is true because God has said it, and obvious be- 
cause facts prove it. It is shown to be actual, because hu- 
man experience confirms it. Take for instance the case 
of the Scottish nobles of 1745. They sided with him they 
believed to be the lawful prince, and what was the result? 
They were attainted; they lost their coronets; and their 
families to this day are commoners, and not nobles. This 
is visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children by those 
laws that we ourselves made, and still believe to be just, 
and beautiful, and true. Let a father of a family destroy 
his health by drunkenness and depraved habits, and his 
children inherit his sins to the third and fourth generation ; 
or let him waste his property by riotous living, and his 
children are made beggars. We thus see in our experience, 
and by the laws of nations, and by the action of Provi- 
dence, that sins committed by the fathers are visited upon 
the children. No man can deny it. And what is true in 
these limited spheres, is true on a greater scale. Let a 
nation go into an unjust war, let that nation be severely 



280 FORESHADOWS. 

punished, (as it will assuredly be,) and it accumulates a 
tremendous debt which descends upon succeeding genera- 
tions. You have here the sins of the fathers nationally 
visited on the children. No one can read the Old Testa- 
ment Scripture without seeing, that when the ruler sinned, 
the ruled, or the subjects, were smitten. If that was unjust 
then, it is unjust now. But it was not so then, and is not 
so now. God is teaching a great lesson by it. God thus 
teaches us, that in proportion to the height of the pinnacle 
we stand on, ought to be the care Avith which we stand; in 
proportion to the place of power w^e occupy, ought to be 
the w^atchfulness, and prayer, with which we occupy it. 
Hence he that occupies the highest place, and is at the head 
of the greatest number, is he that must most pray for him- 
self, and needs most to be prayed for by others. ^^Let 
him that standeth (wheresoever he standeth) take heed lest 
he fall!" 

We read that ^<:his lord commanded him to be sold, and 
his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment 
to be made." It is not said that these, when sold, pro- 
duced money adequate to meet the just demand ; but it 
means, that this would be an instalment of it, and that it 
was all that could be got. This teaches us a great lesson. 
I tried to show from the parable of the rich man and 
Lazarus, that the punishment of sin is a perpetual punish- 
ment. Sin is an infinite evil; it never works its cure, but 
always works its own perpetuity. The lost sin while they 
are punished, and increase their punishment as they in- 
crease their sins ; and it could be proved by arithmetic, 
that hell, whatever be its state, or its nature, or its tor- 
ment, or its woes, is endless and inexhaustible suffering. 
I know that there are difficulties attending all this. The 
only one that ever struck me as at all a serious difficulty 
w^as just this : that when all has been restored, this world 



FORGIVEN AND FORGIVING. 281 

reclaimed, and its people saved, it has seemed strange that 
there should be any spot in the vast universe of God, on 
which there should be sinning and suffering still. One 
sees the difficulty here, but we cannot answer it. God is 
silent on it; we must, therefore, leave it. AVe must take 
what is written, which is plain and unequivocal, that hell is 
for ever, and that they who are there can never, by the na- 
ture of the case, be emancipated. Whatever God has done, 
whatever God has revealed, ayo know is as merciful as it is 
just ; and at all events our way is, not to be driven to God 
by the fear of punishment, but to be drawn to him by the 
love of the cross. Men may have been awed, they may 
have been scared, they may have been thoroughly subdued, 
and driven into the gulf of despair, by the preaching and 
the reiteration of the perdition that awaits the ungodly ; but 
God's great process for bringing the world ''from dark- 
ness to light, from the power of Satan unto God," is by 
the manifestation of disinterested love, so that we, feeling 
his love, may love him ; and '' love is the fulfilling of the 
law." That man that has in his bosom real, practical, 
operative love to God, has that which would prevent him 
from suffering, if he were plunged into the depths of hell. 
There was one resource when the poor debtor's wife and 
children and all were sold. They did not exact the debt, 
for the poor debtor, w^e read, ''fell down and worshipped 
him." The word worship here does not mean divine 
adoration; it is often used to signify civil homage; nay, 
in one passage in the Old Testament it is used to denote 
both: " They worshipped both the Lord and the king;" 
meaning that they worshipped the Lord as God, and gave 
homage to the king, that civil homage which belonged to 
him. This man therefore fell down, giving all the homage 
to the ruler that that ruler properly required, and said, 
"Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all." This 



282 FORESHADOWS. 

was promising an impossibility ; he knew tbat if he were 
spared he would never be able to pay all, and the subse- 
quent record of the parable shows that it was so. But 
this man is not the only one that says so. It is not in 
human liabilities that we ask a little time and promise to 
pay all. Are not these the very words that come from 
the lips of every unhumbled sinner in the sight of God at 
the present day ? is it not his persuasion that he needs not 
so much forgiveness as time ? that he needs not so much 
for the debt to be cancelled, as a little more patience in 
order that he may make it up? It is this self-righteous 
spirit which is the key to the harsh treatment that this 
man dealt to his fellow-servant in the very same circum- 
stances in which he was. The constant cry of sinners is, 
^i Have patience with us ; wait a little, and we shall pay 
you all." The self-righteous man hopes to do it by his 
own exertions ; the monk and the recluse hope to pay all, 
by macerations, fastings, and bodily torture ; and the 
priest hopes to pay all by an appeal to that great ecclesi- 
astical fund, called the fund of supererogation, which has 
been sold and purchased at so much per cent., just like 
public stocks upon the Exchange or in the market. Each 
has something that he falls back upon, as the grand 
treasury out of which he hopes to get enough to pay all 
the demands of his Lord. But that man that knows what 
God's law is, and that feels what his own heart is, will be 
thoroughly persuaded that such payment is impossible, and 
that to promise it is to try to deceive the undeceivable, 
and to deceive himself. But suppose I owe a hundred 
pounds. No exactitude in paying my debts for the future 
would be any compensation for my not paying this hundred 
pounds. We owe to God the past, the present, and the 
future ; we owe perfect holiness in the past, perfect 
holiness in the present, and perfect holiness in the future. 



FORGIVEN AND FORGIVING. 283 

If I could render to God perfect obedience in thought, 
and word, and deed, for all the future, I should only bo 
doing just what I am bound to do, because the law is still, 
^' Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, 
with all thy soul, and with all thy strength." In the 
journey to the judgment-seat, there is no making up lost 
time. In the voyage to God's presence, there is no re- 
covering lee-way that is lost. In appearing at the judg- 
ment-seat, there is no such thing as offering any compensa- 
tion, or atonement whatever, on our part, for any thing in 
which we are deficient. Well therefore does the prophet 
ask, ^^Wherewithal shall I come before the Lord, and bow 
myself before the high God ?" Shall I come with '' burnt 
offerings and calves of a year old ?" That will not do. 
Will the Lord be pleased with " a thousand rams ?" That 
will not do. Or with <^ ten thousand rivers of oil," if I 
could give it ? That will not do. " Shall I give my first- 
born for my transgression, and the fruit of my body for 
the sin of my soul ?" That w^ill not do. It requires blood 
to cleanse from sin, but it is the blood of him wdio is God 
in our nature, and has made a perfect propitiation for the 
sins of all that believe. Therefore, let us not for one mo- 
ment indulge in the idea that any thing Ave can do in the 
future will, in reference to God and his law, compensate 
for what we have left undone in the past. Do not say to 
God, ^'Have patience w^ith me and I will pay thee," but 
go to him and say, '' Our Father, forgive me," or, as the 
word should be translated, "send away." "Send away 
our trespasses, as we send away the trespasses of them 
that trespass -against us." 

The lord of that servant was better to him than he 
deserved. We are told that he loosed him and had mercy 
upon him. This indicates that he, lus Avife, and his 
children, Avere in bondage ; or Avhy should the term loosed 



284 FOKESHADOWS. 

be used ? Probably they were all cast into prison ; and 
probably, nay, there is no doubt, that during their im- 
prisonment, the servant learned a lesson that he had not 
learned previously — that nothing he could do in his self- 
righteousness would ever give payment of the heavy 
liabilities that he owed to his Lord. Do we not often 
discover by night what we have missed by day ? Do we 
not often learn lessons in trouble that we should never 
have learned in prosperity ? Precious lessons have before 
now been read on sick-beds; glorious apocalypses have 
before now illumined prison walls, from that of John in 
Patmos to that of John Bunyan in Bedford. If martyrs 
have suffered the cruelty of man, in the midst of their 
torments they have had compensatory joy from God their 
Father, who has made them take joyfully the spoiling of 
their goods. It is good for us that we have been afflicted. 
We learn in trouble what we do not learn in prosperous 
circumstances. 

We read that the lord of that servant forgave him all. 
Thus the reckoning that alarmed the servant led to that 
which indeed comforted him. What seemed to him un- 
mitigated judgment, was plainly only mercy in reversion. 
One has well sung — 

" Ye saints of God, fresh courage take, 
The clouds ye so much dread 
Are big with mercy, and will break 
With blessings on your head." 

God brings us to Sinai that we may tremble there, as 
Moses quaked, in order to draw, if not drive, us to Calvary, 
that we may rejoice and be glad there as a Christian only 
can. As we stand shivering at the mount, the language 
we utter is, ^^Lord, who shall stand if thou shouldest mark 
iniquity?" But when we are translated from that unto 
Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Je- 



FOPvGIVEN AND FORGIVING. 285 

rusalem, unto Calvary, and Christ, and him crucified, then 
we can add what there only we learn : '' But there is for- 
giveness with thee that thou mayest be feared." God 
rarely suffers us to taste of the sweetness of the gospel, 
without giving us contemporaneously, or previously, to feel 
something of the bitterness of the law. It is by seeing 
how much we owe, that we learn to feel how much we have 
been forgiven. It is by having first " the sentence of 
death," to use the language of the apostle, that we taste 
the sweetness of that life — the life of God — that im- 
mediately succeeds. 

Having thus learned the character of this superior 
servant, and the treatment he received from his master, 
we must now follow him in his after-life, and see what we 
should have done, had we been in the very same circum- 
stances. That servant, we are told, went out — that same 
servant, the very last man we should have expected to 
have been guilty of it — and found one of his fellow-ser- 
vants, who owed him a hundred pence, (about a hundred 
times seven pence half-penny.) He laid hands on him, 
and took him by the throat, saying. Pay me that thou 
owest. Mark the first expression, he zvent out. This is 
not without meaning. When is it that we forget our obli- 
gation to God, and our responsibilities to him ? When, 
like Cain, we go out from God's presence. Where is the 
place of safety and of holiness, the place of strength and 
joy? The answer is, in the presence of God. Let go 
your sense of a present God, and you let go one of the 
main props of your Christian existence. And what docs 
the apostle say to the Hebrews? '^Take heed lest there 
be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing 
from the living God:" — that is, in going out from God, 
ceasing to pray to him, to think of him ; or thinking of 
him only in the sanctuary, and never in the shop, in the 



286 FOUESHADOWS. 

place of business, in the world; going out from God, and 
saying in our own practical feelings, ^^ There is no God." 
There is, I must say, a great deal of misconception about 
Christianity. Many persons have an idea (and the preva- 
lent superstitions of Eome and those who follow that 
church foster it) that Christianity is a thing for canonical 
times and consecrated places ; that it is a very good thing 
for the Sabbath, and very proper for the house of God; 
that consecrated hands only should touch consecrated 
things. What a misconception^ is this ! Christianity is 
for every-day life, for the Exchange, the parliament, the 
palace, the shop, the closet, and the drawling-room. Chris- 
tianity is meant to be a perpetual spring. It is not a thing 
for Sunday, that ceases upon Monday; it is a jferpetual 
influence. A sense of God's presence is holy as it is a 
duty everywhere. If you get the idea that you ought only 
to name God and to pray in sacred places, you are upon 
Jewish or Popish, not upon Christian, grounds. You come 
to the sanctuary to be refreshed after the toils of the week, 
and to be strengthened for the v»^eek to come ; and thence 
to take God with you, and, under his eye, and walking 
with him as Noah, and Enoch, and Abraham walked, to 
be happy, to be kept holy, to be strengthened for every 
sacrifice, and sustained in every trial. 

The servant's treatment of his fellow-servant was, we 
find, extremely harsh and cruel, as well as unbecoming the 
circumstances in which he himself was placed. It indi- 
cated a total renunciation of the position of favour he 
occupied. He had a right to exact the hundred pence. 
He might have gone into any court of justice and made 
that servant pay. There was no doubt of that. The su- 
perior servant did not demand from the inferior servant 
that which was not his due. He had a perfect right to 
exact it. Yet the exaction of right may not always be 



FORGIVEN AND FORGIVINO. 037 

right in the sight of God. Some one has made the re- 
mark, ^'Summa justitia" may be '^summa injuria." The 
highest justice may be, in the sight of God, the highest 
injury. At all events, the man wished to have one treat- 
ment for himself, and to administer another treatment for 
those who were subject to him. He w\anted that God 
should deal with him by grace, but that he should have the 
convenient license of dealing with all mankind by justice. 
He desired that God should forgive all his demands on 
him, but that he should have the most convenient per- 
mission to exact all his rights upon his fellow-creatures. 
He wanted to be meted himself by one measure, but w^ould 
like to mete out a very different measure to others. He 
would have every thing for nothing himself; but he wanted 
to let nobody have any thing for nothing from him. If 
we are the recipients of grace, we must give grace. If we 
have obtained forgiveness, we must also forgive. If we 
stand by grace, by grace we must also be prepared to act. 
But let me ask, is not the very phrase, the very words 
w^hich this man uttered, ^'Pay me that thou owest," the 
ceaseless exaction of us all? Is not this our feeling? I 
don't say we all venture to give it utterance. Every one 
is inclined to say for himself, ^' I owe very little. I have 
done what I could, and God has very little to expect from 
me ; I have done as well as my neighbour. But that man 
owes me very much, and that other man owes me still 
more. I believe God cannot say to me, ' Pay me that thou 
owest,' because I owe nothing. But to every man around 
me I may say justly, 'Pay me that thou owest,' — to his 
wife, his children, his servants, his dependants, and friends, 
' Pay me that thou owest.' " 

Yet, perliaps, the solution of it is as follows. When we 
look to God as simply an exacter of duties, we go fortli in 
the same spirit, and are ourselves the greatest exacters of 



4 



288 FORESHADOWS. 

duties from others ; but when, on the other hand, we learn 
to look upon God, not in the light of an exacter of aught, 
but as a giver of all, we become holier and freer ourselves. 
By not thinking of God commanding at all, but by think- 
ing constantly of God as giving, we shall be holiest and 
happiest too. When we think of God constantly as an 
exacter of duties, we grudgingly perform them, and in a 
mercenary spirit. As w^e believe our God is, so we our- 
selves act, and we are constantly exacting from our fellow- 
men, and complaining when they do not give us what we 
exact. Now God's true character is, that he gives and 
forgives. Our true character, if we are his, will be, that 
we give and forgive also. 

But let me explain what forgiveness is. Many persons 
understand by forgiving, giving for — that is, giving for a 
consideration ; but that is not the meaning. The original 
word is not ^^for," but ^^ forth" — forth giving, freely re- 
mitting without any consideration, dismissing, putting away 
altogether. How much did the apostles build upon this, 
that we ourselves, having received so much, freely ought 
to show our sense of that, by dealing tenderly and gratui- 
tously with others. Thus, for instance, the apostle says, 
in his Epistle to Titus, that we are '^to speak evil of no 
man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, showing all meekness 
unto all men." But what does he add as the groundwork 
of this? ^'For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish 
and disobedient." What beautiful reasoning, <'('For we 
ourselves also were sometimes foolish and disobedient." 
As though the recollection of what we were by nature, 
and what God has made us by grace, should make us 
tender and forbearing toward others, instead of exacting 
what we think we deserve from others. In that beautiful 
case of Joseph, when he thought that Mary had done that 
which was wrong, it is said that, being a just man, he did 



FORGIVEN AND FORGIVING. 289 

not put her away. How beautiful is this, that the highest 
justice ^yas the very highest mercy, love, forbearance, and 
forgiveness ! The highest humanity is the highest justice. 
A perfect being only can exact rights ; an imperfect being 
must give and forgive. This teaches us that there are two 
great kingdoms in the womb of nature, struggling for su- 
premacy, the elder and the younger ; the one the kingdom 
of exaction, of demand, and of right ; the other the king- 
dom of grace, of forgiveness, and of love. 

The fruits of the kingdom of exaction are, each exact- 
ing what he conceives to be his own rights, and repeating 
as his watchword to others, ^' Pay me that thou owest;" 
debtors rising against creditors ; we asserting our rights 
against our fellows, and they in their turn asserting their 
rights against us. The result is what has taken place on 
the continent of Europe — disorganization, chaos, revolu- 
tion. Whenever the higher classes begin to exact and de- 
mand imperiously rights and obligations from the lower, 
there is a reaction and a revolution. This is the kingdom 
of exaction. But the other is the kingdom of forgiveness 
— forgiveness coming from God into our hearts, and we 
coining it into forgiveness for others ; and that forgiveness 
of man to man becoming the currency of the whole social 
system. Wherever this exists, there is strength, stability, 
prosperity. Never is power so mighty as when it sacri- 
fices. Never are the wealthy so sure of their Avealth as 
when they give liberally. Never does society stand so 
strong as when it is characterized less by exacting rights 
from man to man, and more by giving blessings from the 
higher to the lower — from them that have to them that 
have not. 

We heard, that the fellow-servants of this upper ser- 
vant, on seeing what he did, ^'wcre sorry." Just mark 
the distinction. When the lord of that servant heard 

II. SER. 25 



290 FORESHADOWS. 

what he did, he was wroth. That is the type of Christ. 
When the fellow-servants saw what he did, what did they 
do ? Did they go and smite him and abuse him, whisper 
about him, put a paragraph in the newspapers in order to 
damage him? No, but, it is beautifully said, they ''were 
sorry." God may be wrathful, man can only be sorry. 
God is the judge, who can pronounce ; and we are the 
fellow-servants, that can only be grieved when a fellow- 
servant sins against God or ourselves. This is the true 
light in which to look at sin. ^ What is a man's greatest 
misfortune ? That he should be left to sin and error. It 
is indeed a great misfortune. It ought not to provoke our 
judgment, but to excite our sympathy, calling forth not 
denunciations, but tenderness ; not wrath, but the sorrow 
that the fellow-servants felt. But is it not our tendency, 
when we see our fellow-servants sin against others, and 
especially (and there we see the selfishness of our own 
hearts breaking out) when they sin against ourselves, that 
we cease to feel sorry? We often catch ourselves mount- 
ing the judgment-throne, when we ought to be kneeling at 
the throne of grace. These servants did not rest satisfied 
with being sorry; they went and did — what ? They went 
and told their lord. W^ien we see a fellow-creature sin, 
we are not, as I have told you, to go and calumniate, and 
endeavour to denounce and abuse him. If you can right 
it, do so ; if you can repair the wrong, do so ; if you can 
bring him to a right mind, do so ; but if you cannot, if 
you have not the means, the power, or the persuasion, then 
go and tell God, but not upon the house-top, making prayer 
a covert for your enmity, but go and tell God when you 
have shut the doors of your closet, when no man can hear 
you ; and he that judgeth righteously will right the wrong 
that has been done. What a beautiful world would this be, 
if it were only Christian ! What fools, what madmen are 



FORGIVEN AND FORGIVIXG. 291 

tlicy that ^voiild try to banish from this worhl that blessed 
gospel, that would make its very deserts smile and its -wil- 
derness blossom as the rose ! It is the very holiness of 
this gospel that rouses the opposition of the skeptic. It 
is because it is so powerful, so heavenly, so like God, that 
it stirs up the enmity of those who have unsanctified hearts 
and unenlightened minds. 

We read that the lord of that servant interfered, and 
said, ^^Oh! thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that 
debt, because thou desiredst me : shouldest not thou also 
have had compassion on thy fellow-servant, even as I had 
pity on thee ? And his lord was wroth, and delivered him 
to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto 
him." The king addressed him in language most severe. 
No man is so wricked as he that sins against light, except- 
ing the man that sins against mercy. When we have re- 
ceived great mercies, and trample them under foot ; great 
blessings, and despise them, and treat them as if they were 
no blessings at all ; then we grievously sin against God. 
Slighted mercies always issue in the sharpest judgments. 
Hence, when those who know the truth, and sat under the 
preaching of it, go out and deny that truth, they are the 
guiltiest of all. This man was a type of many a selfish 
Christian ; ho could pray one part of the Lord's prayer, 
but not the rest. I am satisfied that the Lord's prayer is 
very easily committed to memory, but it is very hard to be 
learned by heart. Many a Christian can pray, " Forgive 
us our trespasses," but there he stops; but he has not 
learned it by heart unless he can say. Forgive us our tres- 
passes, not on the ground of our forgiving others, but that 
Ave, under the sweet sense of forgiveness, may go out and 
forgive all those that trespass against us. Thus, he prayed 
one part of the prayer, but refused the rest. He Avas de- 
livered, therefore, by the judgment of his lord, we are 



292 FORESHADOWS. 

told, to the tormentors, until he paid the last farthing. 
This seems strange. It is the only part of the parable 
which seems really difficult. The judge forgave him his 
first debt fully, freely, completely, but yet we are told that 
he was delivered to the tormentors till he should pay the 
last farthing. Thus it seems as if the judge had revoked 
his forgiveness ; but, if so, we cannot regard this as a type 
of the forgiveness of God. Whatever God gives is with- 
out repentance, is never revoked, and it cannot be revoked. 
But some have tried to explain it thus : it was not the first 
debt, they say, that was due to him, but the debt he had 
incurred by the sin he had committed in the treatment he 
had dealt out to his fellow-servant. If so, this perfectly 
explains it. He owed love to his fellow-servant, but he 
paid in hate. He owed mercy to his fellow-servant, but 
he paid what he owed in cruelty and crime. He owed for- 
giveness to his fellow-servant, from the fact that he him- 
self was forgiven, but instead of forgiveness he exacted the 
utmost farthing. He incurred a new death, and the hea- 
viest of the twaiui He was cast out, therefore, to the 
tormentors, till he should pay the last farthing. 

Such are some of the lessons we extract from this para- 
ble. Let us rejoice that forgiveness is the grand charac- 
teristic of the gospel of Christ ; that what we must ask is 
not payment, nor reward of merit, but simply, free, full, 
complete forgiveness. The words are, '(• Forgive us our 
trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us." 
Let us learn that we receive forgiveness in order that we 
may forgive. Forgiveness is not given to us as if we were 
to be the conclusive or final absorbents of it for our own 
enjoyment, but it is given to us to be a motive to go forth, 
to be god-like, have a divine life, and forgive the faults of 
others. It is a remarkable fact, that never is one's sense 
of God's forgiveness to us so dimmed and clouded as when 



FORGIVEN AND FOIIGIVING. 293 

\vc clierish vrrath, enmity, malice, and revenge toward any 
others. Many of those persons who comphiin that tliey 
have no assurance of forgiveness, in order to get rid of 
that, and realize the assurance, would do well to get rid of 
all the clouds, and mists, and fogs of evil passions, and 
corrupt feelings of revenge, ill-will, enmity, and malice 
which they cherish toward others. The tree of life wull 
grow in that soil in which the upas trees of this world 
have been uprooted. The sunshine of God's kindness will 
light upon that heart that is pure, and kej)t so, by the 
Spirit of purity and of all love. 

And, in thinking of the gospel, let your great idea o£ 
forgiveness be that which is ever prominent to your minds. 
Think less of God demanding, and think more of God 
simply forgiving. As our view of God is, so will be our 
treatment toward others. Let us learn what Christianity 
should be in our conduct. It is not making a beautiful 
eulogium on it. It is not an eloquent or an argumentative 
defence of it. It is not a panegyric on its beauties, or an 
oration on its excellence and perpetuity, but it is being 
Christians. He that is a Christian does more to spread 
the gospel than the man who WTites eloquent apologies for 
the Bible, or most able and conclusive defences of Chris- 
tianity. In teaching our children what the gospel is, let 
us not fail to teach them the great idea, that God is not a 
Judge terrible and exacting, but a Father graciously and 
bountifully giving and forgiving, I believe if there were 
more evangelical view^s in the nursery, there would be 
more evangelical men in the church of Christ. Let not 
those who are zealous for an evangelical ministry, forget 
that they must be as zealous for an evangelical tutor or 
governess. I believe at the present moment that the 
child's pinafore is the symbol of greater force and influence 
than the archbishop's apron. At all events, the nursery 

25 i> 



294 FORESHADOWS. 

is a more momentous element of the social system than 
we are often disposed to admit. The children of to-day 
are the adults of to-morrow, and our bequests to the next 
generation. What the bequests are in moral character, 
the next generation will be in happiness or misery, in holi- 
ness or sin. May the Lord teaeh us, may the Lord bless 
our nurseries, our schools, and our churches, and help us 
to teach them what we feel ourselves, that Christianity is 
good news ; that to be a Christian is to be happy ; that 
God is the Father of all that bdieve, and we his children ; 
and in this bright and beautiful thought we shall have the 
augury, the earnest, and the foretaste of heaven. 



295 



LECTURE XVIII. 

THE BARREN FIG-TREE. 

He spake also this parable ; A certain man had a fig-tree planted in his vineyard ; 
and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. Then said he unto 
the dresser of his yinej'-ard, Behold, these three years, I come seeking fruit 
on this fig-tree, and find none : cut it down ; why cumbercth it the ground ? 
And he answering said unto him. Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall 
dig about it, and dung it : and if it bear fruit, well : and if not, then after that 
thou shalt cut it down. — Luke xiii. 6-9. 

By a reference to the commencement of the chapter, 
■VYC shall see the historical facts which suggested the pa- 
rable. " There were present at that season some that 
told him of the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled 
with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering said unto 
them, Suppose ye, that these Galileans were sinners 
above all the Galileans, because they suffered such things ? 
I tell you. Nay ; but except ye repent, ye shall all like- 
wise perish. Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower 
in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were 
sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem ? I tell 
you. Nay : but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise 
perish." Then spake he to them this parable, which was 
meant to convey to them the great truth which they seem 
to have overlooked in their speculations upon the destruc- 
tion of these Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled 
with their sacrifices. It is important and instructive to 
notice, that the inference they drew was just this, that 
those who were slain, and whose destruction was so sudden, 
were signally guilty, and they themselves, whose lives 



296 FORESHADOWS. 

were spared, were signally virtuous. They drew the con- 
venient conclusion, that those who suffered were signally 
guilty, and added the inference Avhich seemed to be natural, 
that they who were spared were signally virtuous. Now 
this has all the plausibility of truth, but it is not correct ; 
the observation seems so far perfectly right, but the pre- 
mises on which it leans had been altogether misappre- 
hended ; and this teaches us that our reasoning needs to 
be sanctified, as well as our recollection, and our reading, 
and our thinking, and our feeling. Do we not see, for 
instance, how, from the very same premises, three different 
parties may draw three different conclusions. Thus, for 
instance, ''All things are transitory; the world and all 
that are in it is passing away.'' From this are deduced 
three conclusions: the Epicurean says, ''Let us eat and 
drink, for to-morrow we die ;" the ascetic says, " Therefore 
let us mortify," not the lusts of the body, " but the body 
itself; retire from the world, live out of it, and even 
against it ;" and the Christian says, " The time is short, 
therefore let us buy as though we possessed not ; let us 
use the world as not abusing it ; for the fashion of it 
passeth away." Thus we learn that we need to be taught 
by the Spirit of God, not only to put right interpretations 
on his holy word ; but even when these interpretations are 
perfectly correct, to draw right, logical conclusions from 
them. We have in these opening words, to which I have 
vei-y briefly referred, an instance of man's constant tend- 
ency in every age to ascertain what he is, not by an ex- 
amination of himself, and a comparison of his conduct 
with the right standard, but by looking at what happens to 
him, and so judging what he is ; in other words, the com- 
mand of the apostle is. Examine yourselves ; the practice 
of mankind is. Examine God's providence. If we examine 
ourselves, we may, if guided by the Spirit of God, come 



TTIE BARREN FIG-TREE. 097 

to a right conclusion. If avc examine God's providence 
only, we may come to a Avrong one. What befalls us is 
not the evidence of what we are, but what God shows us 
to be is the true picture of what w^e truly and really are. 
Hence therefore the conclusion, that those who are sud- 
denly destroyed are signally guilty, is altogether a wrong 
conclusion ; the greatest sinner is often spared to a most 
protracted age; the greatest saint is often cut down in 
the meridian of his days, like a flower of the field. The 
spared one who lives to ninety may be the guiltiest ; the 
one cut down at thirty or forty may be the greatest and 
most devoted saint. And we also learn from this, that the 
place where one dies ought not to lead us to pronounce 
upon the character of him that dies. One dies at one 
place, another at another ; one under one range of cir- 
cumstances, another under another range. Yet one may 
pronounce upon some places, that it is not the place where 
a Christian should be found. To the living we are to 
preach repentance and acceptance ; about the dead, we 
are to be silent ; it is not ours to mount the judgment- 
throne, and pronounce sentence. Ever as we thus try to 
steal a ray from the glory of God, it will be found that 
we take a curse into our own bosom. Again, I may notice, 
just in glancing at the passage, that we are apt to think, 
when we see a great judgment happen, that punishment is 
always in proportion to crime. The Jews said, these Gali- 
leans must have been terribly guilty, seeing that so terrible 
a calamity overtook them. It is not so ; this is not a dis- 
pensation of judgment ; if it were so, then the punish- 
ment and the crime w^ould be exactly proportioned to each 
other; but this is the dispensation of election, the dispen- 
sation of God's mingled and mysterious providence. There 
is confusion enough in God's providential dealings with 
us to make us long for the judgment-day ; and yet there 



298 FORESHADOWS. 

is connection enough between crime and punishment to 
show that God reigns over all the earth. Were the pu- 
nishment always proportioned to the crime, there would be 
no need of a judgment-day ; were there no evidence of 
punishment following crime, there would be no proof that 
God reigns. Therefore there is just confusion enough, and 
yet order enough, darkness enough, and yet light enough, 
to lead us to see that God reigns, and to convince us that 
there is to be a judgment-day. There is also in this mis- 
apprehension made by the JewB respecting the Galileans, 
another fault which I may correct : their seeing God in 
judgment only. This is more or less the tendency of us 
all: if any thing good happen to us, we attribute it to 
secondary causes : It was my good fortune, my energy, 
such circumstances, such arrangements ; but if any thing 
calamitous, disastrous, and terrible happen to us, we are 
ready to say immediately, ^^It is the Lord's doing, it is 
the Lord's pleasure." We ought to see God in light 
things as well as in dark things, in blessing as well as cala- 
mity ; we ought to ascribe the one and the other equally 
to him, who reigns over all, vfho gives and who takes 
away, and of whom we are called upon still to pronounce 
^^ Blessed be the name of the Lord." In order to teach 
these Jews the necessity of instant repentance, our Lord 
says, ^^ Unless ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." 
But this parable is fitted to show them the necessity of 
instant, immediate, and present repentance. The fig-tree 
was to be cut down in consequence of its not bearing fruit. 
No doubt this parable was primarily meant for the Jews 
as a nation ; but it is not meant for them only^ but has 
reference to individuals in every age, and in every country : 
it has a personal application, which we have only to exa- 
mine in order to perceive. It speaks in the first place of 
man as compared to a tree. This is a very favourite 



THE BARREN FIG-TREE. 299 

symbol in tlic word of God: ^^Make the tree good and 
his fruit good." '' How can a corrupt tree bring forth good 
fruit ?" These and other passages are proofs of the tree 
being frequently used to denote man ; and then the fruit 
bears to the tree the same relation as good works bear to 
the individual. Thus fruit on a tree is not something tied 
on from without, but it is something originated by the 
vital sap from within. In short, fruit is the exponent of 
the inner substance of the tree itself; so it is with the 
works done by man ; whatever the man is, that the works 
are ; whatever his inner life is, that his outer conduct will 
be. In Scripture we read that there are three sorts of 
works ; there are first of all wicked works, the fruit of a 
corrupt tree : secondl}^, dead works, those that have the 
appearance of good works, but are merely i^ut on from 
without. The Pharisees did their works to be seen of 
men ; these did not spring from the tree, but were grafted 
on by influences and for reasons from without it. There 
are, lastly, good works, the outward proofs visible to the 
world of a good and pure tree, i, e, of a good and holy heart. 
Now it is here said, that the great husbandman who 
planted this tree had come these three years seeking fruit. 
Perhaps we are not to interpret every clause and allusion 
in the parable as if meant to convey moral instruction ; 
parts may be necessary simply as adjuncts to fill up the 
parable, and make the story complete. " These three years" 
have had various interpretations given them ; one is, that 
the first year represented the time of the patriarchs, the 
second year the time of the written law, the third year the 
time of Christ's ministry in the flesh. Another view has 
been, that God, the husbandman, comes seeking fruit first 
by Moses, secondly by the prophets, thirdly by Christ him- 
self, thus making three eras. And another interpretation, 
wliich seems more beautiful than others, and certainly at 



800 FORESHADOWS. 

least as appropriate, has been proposed ; that childhood is 
the first year, manhood the second, and old age the third; 
and that God comes tons vfhen young, comes to ns in man- 
hood, then comes to us in old age, still seeking that ^vhich 
he ever seeks, the visible fruit of our union, communion, 
and fellowship with him. But it is here stated, that though 
he thus came to this tree, which is here symbolic of the 
individual placed in a genial soil, cheered by sunbeams, 
and watered by rain-drops, for '^ these three years," he 
found none ; in consequence of which he ordered it to be 
cut down. There is far more meaning conveyed in the 
original than in our translation. It is in our translation, 
<^^ Cut it down, why cumbereth it the ground?" but the 
word xdi (also) is by some oversight omitted, so that the full 
meaning is, ^^ Cut it down, why does it also cumber the 
ground ?" ^. e. cut it down, first, for its barrenness, and, 
secondly, because it is a bane to other trees that grow around 
it. Cut it down, first, because it bears no fruit, and, secondly, 
because it exercises a baneful influence on the other trees 
of the vineyard, or on the fig forest, that is round about it. 
Now this teaches us, that God does not only take notice of 
what is done by individuals, but takes cognizance of the 
barrenness of the individual. It is not required, in order 
to be guilty, that you should do what is wrong ; you are 
guilty by leaving undone what you ought to do. In other 
words, you may not only be a bane, but you may be barren, 
which is scarcely less hateful, for wdiich also you will be 
judged in the sight of God. But it is cut down, not simply 
because itself was barren ; this was one reason, and it is 
the first reason quoted here : but it is cut down, also, because 
it cumbered the ground ; by its shadow it intercepted the 
sunbeams and rains from the lesser plants ; it occupied space 
that might have had better trees planted on it ; and there- 
fore it was to be cut down. Does not this teach us that 



THE BARREN FIG-TREE. 301 

God's judgments arc always connected with God's greatest 
mercies. He never inflicts a judgment alone ; it is always 
in some way connected with a mercy. Thus the judgment 
shown in cutting down the barren tree, is mercy shown to 
the rest of the trees of the garden. In other words, the 
removal of that which is barren in judgment, came to be 
the bestowing of a richer blessing upon those that are bring- 
ing forth fruit. The barren fig-tree was removed for its 
own sake, it is true, but it was also removed for the sake of 
others that were around it. How beautiful is this, then, 
that God never sends a judgment on the earth that has not 
in its bosom a blessing also ! A judgment upon those who 
have provoked it ; a blessing upon those who may be bring- 
ing forth, or seeking to bring forth, the fruit of righteous- 
ness. I need not say that if this parable applied to the 
Jews, this was specially their condition. God had long 
spared them ; year after year he came seeking fruit, and they 
brought forth none ; and the warning here was specially 
for them, that they were soon to be cut down as cumbcrers 
of the ground. And have we not seen the same thing illus- 
trated in the histories of other nations ? In the case of the 
Church of Rome, how long has he borne with her ! how long 
endured her existence, seeking fruit and finding none ! But 
the practical and precious part of its instruction is for us : 
are we bringing forth fruit ? if not bad fig-trees, are we 
barren trees ? or are we doing not merely that which is cor- 
rupt, but also that w^hich is positively good ? how much good 
are we doing ? how much better is the world for us ? Could it 
be written upon any of our tombstones by any finger upon 
earth, that not a few were made better and happier because 
this man lived ? Or is it the best that can be said of us, that 
we did no harm, though it might be added that we did no 
good? If so, we are barren trees, and cumberers of the 
ground. When the husbandman determined to cut it down, 

II. SCR. 20 



S02 FORESHADOWS. 

there was heard an interceding voice, ^^Let it alone this 
year, do not just yet cut it down ; let it remain a little 
longer; have patience with it, exercise forbearance, and 
see if after all it will not bring forth fruit. May we not 
suppose that this is the interceding Son of God, the Lamb 
slain from the foundation of the world, who pleads and 
intercedes for each and all that are ready to be cut down, 
that they may at least be spared as experiments ; that it 
may not be felt by theifiselves or said by others, that they 
had not full, free, unfettered scope for adorning the doc- 
trine which they professed? And we ought never to for- 
get that Christ's intercession is just as important as Christ's 
sacrifice; his sacrifice redeemed, his intercession keeps us 
redeemed : in virtue of his sacrifice he merited for us all 
the blessings of the promise ; in virtue of his intercession 
he makes over to us eventually the enjoyment of his bless- 
ing; and hence, if Christ had never died, nothing had 
been merited for us ; but if Christ did not intercede for us 
as a Prince and a Saviour upon his throne, nothing could 
actually reach us. Let us never attempt to magnify one 
oflBce of the Lord of glory to the exclusion of another. If 
he be our Priest, he is also our Prophet; if our Prophet, 
he is also our King. And he who holds him truly in one 
capacity, holds him practically and truly in all. We may 
also notice, that the intercession of Christ is referred to 
always in Scripture as the reason why the world itself is 
spared. I believe that the constant demand of justice is, 
that this world should be expunged, that its guilty ones 
should be cast out for ever ; but the constant cry has been 
heard sounding along the ages since the world fell, Spare 
it yet another year. This was the cry that closed 1851 : 
Spare it yet another year, and if it bring forth fruit, well. 
It is this intercession also that supports believers when 
Satan desires to have them, that he may sift them as wheat. 



THE BARllEN FIG-TREE. 303 

As soon as this year of protracted forbearance is added to 
the three that are gone before, the tree stands with the axe 
lying at its root. It is not yet lifted up; the judgment is 
suspended; God's mercies are continued; the intercession 
of Christ still lasts: and then, if another year still leaves 
the tree barren, love, and mercy, and justice, and righteous-' 
ness, demand that it shall be cut down, that the rest of the 
vineyard may not be made barren by its shadow. There 
is a very curious recipe for making a barren fig-tree bear 
fruit, which seems to be something like the historical basis 
on which this parable was constructed. Probably some such 
idea prevailed among the Jews ; or if not, the Arabs may 
have caught the tradition of the parable, and turned it to 
this account. The prescription of the Arab is, '^Take a 
hatchet and go to the tree with a friend; unto Avhom say, 
^I will cut down this tree, for it is unfruitful.' He will an- 
swer, ' Do not so this year ; it will certainly bear fruit.' But 
the other says, ^It should have been hewn down,' and gives 
the tree three blows with the hatchet. The other restrains 
him, crying, 'Have patience with it; be not over hasty in 
cutting it down; if it still refuses to bear fruit, then cut it 
down.' " And then it is added, ''If this be done, the tree 
will be sure to bear fruit abundantly during the next year." 
I read the story as presenting a remarkable coincidence be- 
tween the historical basis of the parable, and a fact that is 
known to prevail as a sort of magic recipe among the Arabs. 

Having looked then at this illustration of the parable, let 
me record two or three lessons that may be drawn from it. 

The first lesson that we should learn from the parable is 
this; that we are here in a state of probation: the tree 
during the three years in which the husbandman came to 
it looking for fruit, was in a state of probation ; and when 
spared for another year, its probation became only the more 
critical. It is so with us: we are now preparing cither for 



304 FOKESIIADOAVS. 

being cut down and cast into the fire, or for being trans- 
planted in full bloom, and placed in a more genial clime 
and in a more glorious soil. In other words, character is 
created now, which is to last for ever; heaven is not man 
made anew, but it is the expansion of what man is now. 
Hell is not a total change, it is simply the development 
of what the man is now. And it is this consideration which 
lends to this world its gigantic interest ; that we are every 
day, just as sure as suns, dews, and rains make the tree 
germinate and bring forth fruit, good, bad, or none at all ; 
so sure influences are now accumulating upon us, and im- 
pressing upon us a seal everlasting as the throne of God, 
and a character which has in itself the germ of happiness 
or the germ of endless misery. It is just the year now 
passing that lends to the year still coming its vast import- 
ance. The value of present time is not that dynasties 
have been changed, thrones upset, not because the tiara has 
been crushed and trampled in the dust, not because the 
w^hole of Europe has been stirred -vintil it has become all 
but chaos ; but the vast importance of each year, the gi- 
gantic importance of the present, is that we have either 
taken some steps nearer to the throne of God, or have made 
a retrogression nearer to the realms of the guilty and the 
lost. Each year sustains a vast importance to us, not from 
what its political, its social, and its national convulsions 
have been, but from the moral influence that it has left 
upon us: our character has been '^made or marred" in the 
lapse of it; we have contracted habits w^hich make us ho- 
lier, or habits which make us worse. We are not the same 
on this day, 1852, that we were on the corresponding day, 
1851. Let us look back, in severe retrospect — what is the 
inference? Is it good? is it bad? is the impulse you have 
received an impulse in the direction of heaven, or is it an 
impulse in the direction that is the opposite ? Let us not 



THE BARREN FIG-TREE. 305 

suppose that probation is required for earth, but is not re- 
quired for heaven: it seems, by every analogy to ^vhich ^\o 
can refer, that probation, preparation, fitness is required 
for every thing in heaven and earth. The world itself re- 
quires probation in a man before it will take him into its 
service ; so much so, that a character is regarded in this 
world as so much positive capital: a man's character be- 
comes capital. No man takes another into his confidence, 
or his business, unless by some previous probation he has 
shown that he is likely to do justice to him ; so, in the same 
manner, it would be unreasonable to expect that a man 
should be a good physician without first going through a 
probation, or a good lawyer, or a good preacher, or good 
in any one office of life : and who can suppose that we shall 
be fitted to praise God, and serve God, and love God, and 
glorify God intensely for ever and ever, if we have never 
made any preparation for it in this world, in which we were 
placed for this express and specific purpose. I believe that 
a great many of our errors arise from the idea that death 
is an instant, total, complete change of what we were ; or 
that if it be not, there is always left before death an op- 
portunity of making that change. This is a great mistake ; 
the general law is, that ninety-nine men out of every hun- 
dred die just as they lived; that is the great law. I am 
not .speaking of what may be, but of what is fact, that 
most men die just as they live; and if we have lived 
strangers to God, the probability is that we shall die so. 
Thus we have in this parable evidence that we are here in 
a state of probation or preparation; being ripened or ma- 
tured for another state bQyond the grave ; and that Avhat 
we become here, determines what we shall be hereafter ; 
that heaven is the prolongation of the life of the new 
man, hell the prolongation of the life of the old man: 
the one is character stamped for ever, and progressively 

26^ 



306 FORESHADOWS. 

developed; the other is character stamped for ever, and 
for ever developed and unfolded also. In referring to this 
life, we often speak as if Christian men only lived for eter- 
nity. We say, ^' Such a man is living for eternity, and such 
a man is not living for eternity." But this is a grievous 
misapprehension. The truth is, all men, without exception, 
live for eternity : in every place, in every profession, in 
every rank, men are living for eternity; the queen on her 
throne, the senator in the parliament, the physician, the 
lawyer, the tradesman, are all living for eternity; all are 
rushing like rapid streams into that bottomless and gigantic 
sea ; only that the Christian feels the fact and lives accord- 
ingly, and the unconverted man never feels it nor thinks 
of it ; or, if the thought intrude, he dislodges it from his 
mind as rapidly as possible. And when these two streams 
thus rush to eternity, parallel to all appearance before they 
meet at the judgment-seat, there they diverge ; one to rush 
upward, sparkling in beauty and in sunshine, till it spreads 
before the throne a sea of glory; the other to rush down- 
ward, till it is lost in a dead sea of endless and irremediable 
despair. Every class of mankind live for eternity, only 
the Christian feels the fact and acts up to it, and the thought- 
less not only do not feel it, but labour in every possible way 
to prevent their feeling it. 

Again, we learn from this parable, that God is always 
dealing with us, in order to make us what we should be, and 
to bring forth the fruit that we were originally designed to 
produce. For instance, on this fig-tree, during the three 
years it, stood, God's sunshine lightened as much as on the 
most fruitful tree in the vineyard; God's rain-drops and 
dew-drops fell upon it; the earth still underwent its cus- 
tomary changes; the winds of heaven still fanned it; every 
thing was done for that tree that was done for the other 
trees of the garden. Now, just in the very same way that 



THE BARREN FIG-TREE. 307 

God dealt with this tree, sending sunbeams, and rain-drops, 
and winds, and fertile soil; so he deals with every indivi- 
dual; not with his people, his election, his saints only, but 
with all people, without exception and without limitation. 
Those talents with which he has endowed us — that pros- 
perity which he has poured into our cup — that health that 
he has made to rush like a tide through our veins — those 
glimpses of eternity which sometimes dazzle and almost 
strike blind the conscience — these are all consecrated 
mercies that come down from God, like the rain-drops and 
sunbeams, to mature, and prepare, and ripen us for eternity. 
As truly as God sends his showers upon the trees of the 
field, he sends his blessings, in this dispensation, on the just 
and on the unjust. Again, God deals with us and seeks to 
teach us in the rapid succession of hours and days and 
months and years ; the very interchange of the seasons, 
the changes of climate and of weather, are all fitted to 
lead us to this. The rapidity with which the solemn pro- 
cession of its years sweeps by — the fact, Avhich we can all 
witness, that the older we grow, Christmas seems to come 
round more quickly — are all eloquent orations. It seems 
as if, up to a certain period of life, we had been climbing 
upward. When w^e are young and in boyhood, we think 
we shall never be twenty ; and when we are twenty, it will 
be long before we are thirty; and when thirty, it seems as 
if there were still a long summit or pinnacle of sunshine 
to attain before Ave reach forty. But after we have past 
that period Christmas comes so fast, that it seems as if we 
were rolling down-hill with accelerated speed. All these 
things are calculated to teach us — ^'Prepare, Israel, to 
meet thy God." Then the succession of scenes, the vary- 
ing circumstances, the world seeming to pass before us 
now like a series of dissolving view^s — one no sooner ar- 
rived in its brilliancy than another melts into it, dislodges 



808 FORESHADOWS. 

it, and takes its place — all these things are meant of God 
to teach us, as ambassadors from his throne, that 

*' Art is long and time is fleeting, 

And our hearts, though strong and brave, 
Still like muffled drums are beating 
Funeral marches to the grave/' 

Tliese varying changes, and the rapidity of their suc- 
cession, are sent and commissioned of God to teach us, 
that we are passing from a state of probation to one of 
judgment and retribution, wKere we shall receive the 
indelible fixture of the impressions which have been made 
on our souls under the influences of God's providence on 
earth. Is not the Sabbath, that comes round every week, 
a messenger from God teaching us the same lesson ? That 
beautiful Sabbath seems almost the greatest blessing that 
we have upon earth. I have often wondered that men do 
not see its value even in a physical point of view. I be- 
lieve that if the state were to surrender the Sabbath, and 
to give the worldly and thoughtless a reason and an excuse 
for disregarding it, the poor labourer would soon sink to 
the level of the serf, or even down to the very brute : and 
he may depend upon it, he would get no more for seven 
days' labour than now for six : he would also be very soon 
worn out, because it has been proved, and shown most 
triumphantly, that any man who works seven days in the 
week at the same thing, whatever that thing be, will very 
much shorten his days. It has been found with brutes 
themselves, as if God's law had been struck into the dumb 
creation, that a horse worked seven days will not do so 
much work, nor live so long, as a horse that is only worked 
six days in the week. And what is true of the animal, is 
still more true of the intellectual and moral powers. The 
Sabbath is however a far higher institution. It is, as it 
were, a fraction of heaven let down upon earth, to lead us 



THE BARREN FIG-TREE. 309 

to long for the everlasting Sabbath in the presence of 
God ; as if God threw down weekly a handful of heaven's 
sunbeams to give us some foretaste of what the splendour 
of his presence is, and so create some longing and thirst- 
ing after its joys; it seems as if it were a magnet let 
down from the skies, charged with all holy and beautiful 
attractions, to draw us Godward. And therefore let us 
never let go our Sabbaths : if the body be reluctant to 
come to the sanctuary, let us bring it by the force of moral, 
intellectual, spiritual conviction. We dare not let go our 
Sabbaths : next to the Bible, the Sabbath is worth pre- 
serving. And the most successful way to make the Sab- 
bath loved, is to set the example of honouring it. All 
the legislation in the world never can make the Sabbath 
observed; and unless there be predominating and pre- 
vailing throughout the land a reverence for the Sabbath 
practically exhibited, it is in vain that we petition states- 
men to legislate for it. It lies with the people themselves, 
with the Christian church herself, to make the Sabbath 
more universally hallowed and revered. I do not say that 
our Sabbath is the Jewish Sabbath. It is not ceremony, 
but morality ; it is made for man, not man for it. It is a 
day of joy ; it is a festival or feast, not a fast ; a day for 
retrospection, for circumspection, for prospect ; a day for 
thinking of God's mercies as well as our sins — a day for 
joy in the recollection of the one, as well as humiliation 
in the consciousness of the other. 

God also sends down providential judgments to teach 
us, and to warn us that the year of our trial and probation 
is drawing to a close. He sends judgments to startle us, 
afflictions to warn us, sickness to waste us, and all of them 
reasoning in our conscience of righteousness, of temper- 
ance, and of judgment. Every bereavement that we feel, 
every loss that we sustain, seems to be the sound of the 



310 FORESHADOWS. 

axe being laid to the root of the tree, to be lifted up if we 
remain barren, to be withdrawn if we become fruitful. 
God's blessed book is another messenger that he sends to 
teach us. Its warnings, its promises, its judgments, its 
eloquence, its poetry, are all fitted to warn, to awe, and to 
solemnize us. ^^ Search the Scriptures," says our Lord, 
^^for they are they which testify of me." It is in that 
blessed book that we read, God sent his Son into the 
world, not to condemn the world, but that the world 
through him might be saved. ' He sends also his Holy 
Spirit ; for the Spirit long strives with the ungodly ; it is 
recorded that he strove with the antediluvians before the 
flood ; and he may strive with us, as he did with those who 
are lost, and of whom God will say. My Spirit shall not 
strive with them any more. May we remember this great 
truth, which this parable is so fitted to teach, that what 
we become in time, that we shall be for ever and ever ; that 
heaven and hell are opposite characters perpetuated ; and 
if we are not conscious of something of the character of 
the saints of God upon earth, we have little ground for 
hoping for the condition of the saints in glory. I believe 
that the bitterest agony in the recollections of the lost, will 
be their remaining sense of the mercies they despised, the 
opportunities they w^asted, the advances they rejected, the 
privileges they abused, and the calls of repentance to which 
they turned a deaf ear. For the privileges, mercies, intima- 
tions, calls of God, if not beneficial, are not therefore 
inoperative ; if they do not soften, they harden ; if they 
leave not a savour of life, they leave a savour of death. No 
man closes the year with the same responsibility, or the 
same fitness for heaven, with which he began it. As sure 
as the tree was either made worse or better the longer it 
stood, so sure a man is either improved or the reverse by 
the influences to which he has been subject. Habit does 



THE BARREN FIG-TREE. 311 

its deadly work ; if wc have got through one year reject- 
ing, resisting, and despising the chiims and calls of God, 
we shall get through the next year much more easily in 
the same manner, and the next year more easily still, 
until at last we shall sit and hear the gospel as though we 
heard it not, and the preacher's voice as a very pleasant 
lullaby, and the minister's warnings as water spilt upon 
the ground that cannot be gathered up. And how long 
all these privileges shall last is never certain. Some of 
us may still be in the three years, our time of trial may 
be going on ; but it may be true of others who shall read 
these pages, that the one extra year is now gone. There 
are two ways of cutting down : it is not necessary that 
they should be cut down by death. The husbandman may 
say, ''Let it alone." To be ''let alone," is to be left, 
like Pharaoh, with a hardened heart and deadened sensi- 
bility. Or he may say, " Cut it down," remove it at once 
to the judgment-seat. It is strictly true, that the Lord 
of the vineyard walks at this moment through every con- 
gregation, visits every home, and looks into every heart, 
noticing who are barren and who are fruitful ; and that 
perhaps he is saying of one, This should be cut down ; but 
of another the Intercessor may be crying. Spare it yet 
another year. 1852 may be vouchsafed to you, and it 
may be your closing year ; God only knows : all that we 
do know is, that if there were but one day left us upon 
earth, this day would be time enough for us now, to close 
with the offers of the -gospel, and to spend future years 
very differently from the way in which we have wasted the 
past. 

Let me ask every reader of this volume, are you re- 
conciled to God? Are you at peace with God? It is im- 
possible that you can be happy, if you have God for your 
enemy. Is your heart still enmity to God, or have you been 



o 



12 FORESHADOWS. 



brought into peace and reconciliation with him through 
the blood of the cross ? Are you convinced that his law is 
just, and holy, and true, and good? Are you satisfied that 
if you are saved it must be through Christ, and through 
him alone ? And are you resting and leaning on the Rock 
of ages as your great foundation ? Are you saying in 
your hearts, '' I count all things but loss for the excellency 
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord?" Are you, 
let me ask, born again ? I do not ask, are you scoiFers ? 
are you atheists ? are you skeptics ? I presume you are 
not. I am not asking that question : I am asking simply 
the great question, Are you born again ? I do not mind 
what you have said, or what you have done : if you are 
not born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God. I 
beg of you to weigh what I am asking. I do not ask if 
you are scoiFers, skeptics, infidels, atheists ? Nor, are you 
licentious, immoral, dishonest ? Nor, what you have, or 
what you have not done, or what you hope to do ? I ask 
this only — Are you born again? '<^ Except a man," whoever 
he be, " be born again, he shall not see the kingdom of 
God" — a complete change, a total transformation, '' a new 
creature," ''all things new," new life, new heart, new 
tastes, new sympathies, new joys. Why should any man 
remain a stranger to the gospel ? It will cost far more 
pain, trouble, anxiety, to pass through the world sinning 
and living in sin, than to sacrifice all for Christ, and to 
pass through the world serving and glorifying him. To bid 
a man be a Christian, is just to invite him to begin to be 
happy. To bid a man believe in Jesus, is just to bid that 
man cross the boundary and take the first step of that 
constant progression of happiness and joy, which is pos- 
sessed by the saints of God for ever. Then why is there 
one acquainted with these things who is not a Christian ? 
Is God unwilling to accept you ? If this be so, certainly 



THE BARREN FIG-TREE. P,]^ 

it is a good reason for your not being a Christian. But is 
it so V Hear what God says : " I have no pleasure in tlie 
death of the sinner, saith the Lord;" He is not willing 
that any should perish. Do you say, I am not one of the 
elect. If this be so, it is a good reason: but on what 
evidence do you say so ? Have you seen, what I have 
never seen, God's secret and mysterious records ? do you 
know any thing about them ? has any angel come from 
heaven to whisper to you, your name is not there ? Then 
what reason have you for concluding you are not one of 
the elect ? None at all : it is a mere hollow pretext, in 
order to excuse your continuing just as you are. Why 
then are you not a Christian ? Some one will say, Christ 
did not die for me. If that be so, certainly it is a good 
reason. But who are you that you make such an exception 
for yourself ? What evidence have you for this assertion ? 
Is there any thing in your heart or in your mind which 
separates you from the rest of mankind ? If you are a 
sinner, Christ died for sinners. If you are the chiefest 
of sinners, '' This is a faithful saying, and w^orthy of all 
acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save 
sinners ; of whom,'' says the apostle, '' I am chief." 
Therefore your excuse is no reason at all. Does Christ 
repel you ? ]*)oes he put you away ? If he does so, this 
also is a good reason. But is it fact that he does so ? Is 
it consistent w^ith his own language, '' Come unto me, all 
ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you 
rest ;" '' Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast 
out ;" '« Ye will not come unto me that ye may have life?" 
But do you say that heaven is full, and there is no room 
for you ? That is a good reason if it be true, but it is not 
true : after the blind, the maimed, the halt, the lame had 
been gathered into the kingdom of heaven, it is said, 
<' Still tliere is room." Why then, I ask again, are you 

ir. SEii. 27 



814 FORESHADOWS. 

not a Christian ? Do you answer. My sins are so manj^, so 
great, so grievous, that I cannot hope they will be for- 
given. If this be so, it is a good reason ; but what does 
God say ? ^' Come now and let us reason together, saith 
the Lord ; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as 
w^hite as snow ; though they be red like crimson, they shall 
be as wool." ^^ The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from 
all sin." Or is this your reason, that the pleasures of the 
world are sweeter and better than the prospects of eternity ? 
Then make the experiment ; try it, and you will soon learn 
that the pleasures of sin are not without their alloy ; that 
they are at best but for a moment ; and that they are not 
worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be re- 
vealed. And when you make the experiment, carry with 
you this conviction, '^ What shall it profit a man, if he gain 
the whole world and lose his own soul ?" There is no 
reason in fact, nor in the Bible, nor on God's part, why 
every man that reads these pages should not be this day 
at peace with God through Jesus Christ. Lost sheep, the 
Shepherd seeks thee ! Poor prodigal, feeding upon husks, 
thy Father is looking out for thee : so little reluctance 
will he have to w^elcome thee, that all heaven will ring with 
joy when one lost sinner is found, and one stray prodigal 
is restored to his Father. 



n\b 



LECTURE XIX. 

THE END OF THE YEAR 1848. 

And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall 
dig about it, and dung it : and if it l)car fruit, well : and if not, then after 
that thou shalt cut it down. — Luke xiii. 8, 9. 

I INTRODUCED my remarks upon the parable of the fig- 
tree, by an allusion to the historical incidents recorded in 
the commencement of the chapter, namely, the slaughter 
of the Galileans in the midst of their sacrifices, and the de- 
struction of the eighteen by the fall of the tower of Siloam. 
And I showed in what respect we are prone to form con- 
clusions about such events in the providence of God. The 
Jews thought the destruction of the Galileans was evidence 
of their sin, and that the sparing of the Jews Avas a testi- 
mony from God, that those Jews were innocent. Our Lord 
meets this untrue, but not uncommon supposition, by telling 
them that God's providential dealings are not the true cri- 
teria of guilt, but God's written word. I am not to judge one 
man to be specially guilty, because he is suddenly cut off. 
Nor am I to j udge this man to be specially excellent, because 
wonderfully spared. I am not to determine either my own 
moral state, or the moral state of others, by the providential 
arrangements of Heaven, but by the plain prescriptions of 
God's revealed will ; and perhaps if there were less mistaken 
construction of God's providence, and more simple appeal to 
God's word, there would be less of uncharitable judgment in 
the minds of mankind. Our Lord, to illustrate the various 



316 FORESHADOWS. 



points they brought before him, tells these Jews a parable; 
a parable evidently meant to instruct and teach them— the 
parable of the fig-tree. A tree represents man in his per- 
sonal, social, or national state ; fruit is the representation 
or symbol of good works — not benevolence, which means 
wishing well, but beneficence, which means doing well. 
He showed that this tree was planted — for what purpose ? 
to produce fruit. Does not that teach us another lesson ? 
"What is the best fig-tree ? the tree that produces the best 
and choicest figs. What is the* best church ? the church 
that cleaves most closely to Christ, and does Christ's work 
most effectually. And if men would apply common sense 
to God's word, in determining some of those great contro- 
verted ecclesiastical disputes of the day, they would come 
more speedily and delightfully to a conclusion. And who 
is the best Christian ? Not he that wears the most sombre 
face, or that pronounces the Shibboleth of the sect with 
the greatest elegance, but he that brings forth the most 
good fruit. He is the best that does the best; and wher- 
ever there is Christianity in the heart, there will be sun- 
shine in the countenance, and holiness in the life. Our 
Lord says, that the husbandman came seeking fruit from 
the tree, which was the end of its planting. He was dis- 
appointed ; he found none ; then he said, '' Cut it down." 
What was the fault of this tree ? It is not said that he 
found bad fruit, the apples of Sodom, but that he found 
no fruit. In this lies a very important lesson. Many men 
are quite satisfied with doing no harm ; and if one speak 
a word strongly to them, they will say, ^'I do no harm to 
anybody." That is just their biography. But the judg- 
ment pronounced on the fig-tree was not because it did 
harm, but because it did no good ; and therefore, in the 
sight of God, to pass through the world a thorough blank, 
is next in guilt to passing through the w^orld a disgraceful 



THE END OF THE YEAR 1818. 317 

blot. If WG are afraid of being blots, let us also be afraid 
of bcino; blanks. Let it be recorded in the world's bio- 
graphy, that it has been better for one man, at least, that 
has passed through it. Let it be felt by some one behind 
us, that we lived for something in the world ; that we were 
not satisfied to monopolize all the sunshine and dew-drops 
of the skies, that is, all the blessings and privileges of the 
gospel, and to wrap round us the mantle of salvation, and 
be satisfied that Ave ourselves were safe, and did no harm ; 
but let us feel the responsibilities of the servant ; let us 
feel that we are made Christians, not for ourselves, for 
that is a low and miserable view, but for the good of men 
and for the glory of God ; and it will ever be found, that 
where Christianity is lodged deepest in the human heart, 
there philanthropy and beneficence will develop themselves 
with the greatest splendour in the human life. The in- 
tercessory petition was lifted up, '-^Let it alone this year 
also." These are the words on which I will comment in 
this lecture, having already explained the rest of the pa- 
rable ; I view it now, standing all of us by the death-bed 
of a departing year, and nearly at the cradle of a coming 
year, and if there be one petition that becomes us more 
suitable than another, it is what the old Covenanters 
prayed upon the field of Drumclog — a party with which I 
have no sympathy beyond what is due to the piety of the 
men that were in it — ^^ Lord, spare the green — take the 
ripe." This is the prayer that becomes us. If we are 
ripe for glory, then we need not pray, ^'let it alone this 
year ;" if we are unripe for glory — dead in sins, then the 
prayer that becomes us is, '' let every such barren tree — 
every such unproductive tree — every such dead tree — alone 
for another year. Give it another chance, another oppor- 
tunity ; leave it a little longer beneath prayers and praise, 
and reading and preaching ; and then, if it bring forth no 



318 FORESHADOWS. 

fruit, cut it down." The words ^^ another year" remind 
us of the divisions of time. I think it most important 
that time is divided just as it is ; the earth and the sky 
seem to meet as great phenomena; whether we like it or 
not, they divide time into spaces. We have years w^iich. 
we cannot help seeing, months which we cannot help 
noticing, days which we cannot help counting. The au- 
tumn regularly puts t)ut the year, the twilight regularly 
quenches the day ; and, whether man like it or not, he 
must feel that time is passing away, just by the marks, 
as it were, that stand upon the margin of the stream and 
prove to him that it sweeps past. This day then re- 
minds us that one year has passed away, with the excep- 
tion of a few hours, and that another jear is about to 
begin. Let us look at it : let us take a retrospect of the 
past. In all, that year has produced change. It has made 
less bounding hearts to some, and more gray hairs to others. 
Not a year passes that leaves not fresh snow upon our 
heads, and weightier responsibilities upon our hearts. To 
some the year that is passed has been a year, I am sure, 
of affliction. Has that affliction been sanctified ? This is 
the great inquiry. Has it been sanctified, has it loosened 
the affections from things that perish in the using, and 
lifted those affections to glorious things that endure for 
ever ? Have the furrows of the soil that trials have 
ploughed received into their bosom the good seed, that 
groweth up, and beareth in some thirty, in some sixty, and 
some an hundredfold. There are two kinds of affliction, 
just as there are two kinds of storms. There is the winter 
storm, and there is the summer storm. When the winter 
storm comes, we know that it has passed by the traces 
that it leaves behind, and the wreck and ruin with which 
it strews every part. But when the summer storm passes, 
we find that it has been by the sun looking out again 



THE END OF TITE YEAR 1818. 319 

brighter and more beautiful than before, and the flowers 
and trees, as if they had enjoyed a bath, restored to their 
fairest and pristine loveliness. So is it with affliction ; 
those that arc sanctified, leave us holier, happier than 
before. It acts as the dew that falls and softens the soil, 
and makes it fit for the seed to be cast into it. Have our 
afflictions been sanctified? Can we say this day, if w^e 
look at the wrecks that they have left, at the chasms they 
have made, at the property we have lost — it was bitter 
indeed, but within I find peace with God, and I can say 
from the very heart that my affections, which were begin- 
ning to root themselves amid things that die, have been, 
though amid much pain, lifted up, and made to twine 
their tendrils around a real and everlasting throne? Then 
our greatest earthly loss has been our greatest heavenly 
gain, and ^^it is good for me that I have been afflicted." 

To some, I doubt not, the past year has been a year of 
prosperity. I know many are much more prone to lament 
over their calamities than to acknowledge and praise God 
for their prosperity. But there are some upon whom the 
last year broke in sunshine, and shines on them in sunshine 
still. It came in music, it was continued in music, it de- 
parts in music — they have been prospered ; but recollect, 
that the most difficult cup to hold is a full cup, and that 
the most dangerous pinnacle on w^hich man can stand is 
the loftiest. The lightnings first strike the mountains; 
and the highest spires are most exposed to the storm. 
They that occupy the high places of the earth, are envied 
by those that see the exterior splendour, but not by those 
wdio can judge of the peril, the pain, the anxieties, the 
carking cares Avithin. If, reader, you have been prospered 
during the past year, prospered in your trade, prospered 
in your connections, prospered in your elevation in the 
social fabric, let me ask you, has it made you proud ? has 



820 FORESHADOWS. 

it made you forget God ? has it made you, like the prodi- 
gal, waste the goods that God has given you? or, like a 
miser, hoard the good that God has given you ? or, like a 
Christian, consecrate that good to the noblest and the 
most beneficent of ends? Examine yourselves ; take your 
retrospect of the year that is past, and ask if your pros- 
perity has been sanctified and blessed to you by this 
blessed resolution — ^^It Avas the light of God's coun- 
tenance that gave it all; it was the goodness of God that, 
unmeritedly on my part, bestowed it all ; to the glory of 
God I consecrate all." 

To some this year has been a year of great changes and 
bereavements. Few years pass away without leaving a 
greater number of images of the dead crowded into the niches 
of memory, and fewer of the faces that we loved gathering 
round the Christmas fireside, each succeeding year, to 
thank God for his mercy, and to hope for his blessing yet 
to come. There are few homes into which sickness and 
death are not entering constantly. I cannot address many 
without being sure that there are some here to whom the 
past has been a year that has swept from their presence 
the nearest, the dearest, the best beloved; and the few 
lights that remain in the chambers of imagery within, only 
enable us to read the epitaphs upon the tombs of those that 
are gone. Vf hat effect has this had upon you ? Has it 
made you feel that your ties multiply beyond the skies as 
the ties become fewer that bind you to earth ? Has it 
made you feel that here we have no continuing city, nor 
fixed place of abode? Has it made you realize, as you 
never realized before, the great apostolic announcement, 
^^the time is short;'' ^^it remains that they that have wives 
be as though they had none ; they that weep, as though 
they wept not; they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced 
not ; they that use the world, as not abusing it, for the 



THE END OF THE YEAR 1818. 321 

fashion of the world passeth away." If so, the year has 
been to yon a happy one, and you can bless God for it, 
and feel that it is good for you that you suficred. 

To all of us, whatever we be, whether our personal and 
our domestic state has been a scene of gladness or a scene 
of weeping, the year that has passed away has been a 
startling one. We scarcely rose from reading the tidings 
of one crash, when there mingled with its echoes the foot- 
fall of another. We could scarcely open the papers of the 
day without hearing of changes, disasters, catastrophes, 
in comparison of which all that had preceded in our ex- 
perience seemed but child's play. Have these startling 
phenomena made us feel, as we never felt before, that the 
kingdoms of this world are kingdoms that can be moved? 
Have the tidings of paralyzed kings falling from their 
thrones, and bewildered popes rushing from their palaces, 
made us look beyond the skies, and recollect the truth 
that infants know, and angels glory in, that there is a 
King, whose throne revolutions cannot shake, and whose 
empire never can be broken? Have these great changes, 
these startling sounds of dissolving kingdoms and falling 
thrones, made us remember that there is a kingdom that 
cannot be moved ; and that if we seek first this kingdom 
and its righteousness, all other things will be added unto 
us ? Have the events of the past year been consecrated 
missionaries from the skies preaching to us, ^« Prepare to 
meet thy God, Israel?" Have its thundering ava- 
lanches, as they passed by — have its terrible revolutions, 
as they whirled round us — made us feel what the sword has 
traced in blood on every acre of broad Europe, ^' This is 
not our rest," but what the Bible has written in illuminated 
letters of light and love, ^' There remaineth a rest for the 
people of God?" If so, the year has not been in vain* 
for us. 



822 FOrvESIIADOWS. 

To the people of God there is much instruction in the 
retrospect of the past year. There are but two classes 
among mankind. Men speak of Churchmen and Dis- 
senters, and Episcopalians and Presbyterians — they speak 
of rich and poor, of noble and mean ; but there are really 
but two classes — classes w^hich have continued their suc- 
cession from Adam's days to the present hour — the suc- 
cession of sinners by nature, and the succession of saints 
by grace. To one of these two classes every man and 
every woman in this assembly belongs. I speak now to 
those that belong to the last — the succession of saints by 
grace. 1848 has borne you, people of the Lord, so much 
nearer to your happy and everlasting home. It has carried 
you through another great stage of your pilgrimage below; 
and to some of you, as 1848 has been a chariot of grace, 
1849 may prove a chariot of glory. You can raise there- 
fore, on this the last day of the dying year, your Ebenezer, 
and say, ^'Hitherto the Lord hath helped me;" and you 
can look into the dim and the unsounded depths of the 
coming year, and feel that there also God will bless you. 

Again, this past year, to you, people of God, must have 
attested the faithfulness of God. Can you put your finger 
upon one promise that has failed ? have you trusted on 
one attribute of Deity that has disappointed you ? are you 
dissatisfied with any thing in the word of God, or in the 
lessons of the gospel ? On the contrary, has not the great 
truth, ''the Lord reigneth," been sent forth by every tem- 
pest? has it not been borne upon, every bloAV? has it not 
spoken to you from above, from beneath, from east, and 
west, and north, and south ? and is it not, in your mind, 
one of the axioms of your creed, as fixed as the poles of 
the universe, that God reigns, and controls all by his in- 
finite power, and spares all by his ceaseless beneficence ? 
During the past year, 1 trust, Christian brethren, you 



THE END OF THE YE All 1848. 323 

have had increased experience of the truth, the excellence, 
the preciousness of the gospel of Jesus. Are you not now 
more able to say, at the close of this year, than at its com- 
mencement, "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus.'* 
There is much in all the world's greatest things to be 
ashamed of. Kings may be ashamed of their crowns, 
nations of their constitutions, and statesmen of their 
schemes ; but a Christian, instead of having more reason, 
has less reason than ever, this day, to be ashamed of the 
gospel of Christ. Have you not found God's word re- 
main true; God's promises, yea and amen; God's faith- 
fulness the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever? And 
are you not persuaded that Christianity is absolute truth, 
that the knowledge of it is perfect peace, and that the 
hopes of it are an assured crown of glory that fadeth not 
away ! 

But I shall be able the better to compress my remarks, 
by first looking to the year that is past, and then to the 
year that is to come : standing as it were on the little 
isthmus that remains between them. In the retrospect of 
1848, the year that is past, gratitude is what becomes us ; 
and in the prospect of 1849, the year that is to come, if 
we are spared to see it, confidence, courage, hope, are what 
become us. 

In looking at the past, gratitude well becomes us. And, 
first, we should be filled with thankfulness and gratitude 
to God, when we think of ourselves this day. Some 
stronger than we have been cut down in their meridian, 
like flowers, that no sooner. bloom than fade. Disease, 
sickness, accident has swept away many that were our 
friends and our companions, and with whom we took sweet 
counsel together as we went to the house of God, and the 
lengthening roll of widows and orphans is longer at the 
close of the year than it was at its commencement. This 



824 FOIIESIIADOWS. 

day Ave are spared in health, in strength, in hope, in peace, 
amid privileges and blessings. God has kept our feet from 
falling, our eyes from tears, and our souls from death. 
And surely a year of personal preservation and personal 
mercies demands that we should bless the Lord. 

But let US- take a retrospect, not only of our personal, 
but also of our domestic mercies. True it is, there is not 
a home, from the equator to the pole, that has not clouds 
passing over it; there is no Christmas song that has not a 
melancholy minor running through it ; there is no fireside 
so bright and so beautiful, that a shadow does not occa- 
sionally flit across it. Perhaps it is well that it is so; per- 
haps it is in mercy that it is so. I do not believe that we 
could live in perpetual sunshine ; we need shadow ; per- 
petual sunshine would destroy us ; the intermingling shade 
comes like a refreshment from the fountain of health, to 
revive, and restore, and sustain us. But let us compare 
the mercies of our home — the coldest that is with the 
homes that are around us. Compare the blessings that 
you have, with the judgments that your unworthiness has 
provoked. Take a glance across the waste of waters, and 
compare English homes with the cold, desolated homes 
that contain so many bleeding hearts, in Paris, in Vienna, 
and Berlin ; and then see if every father is not bound to 
become a priest, and that priest to do his priestly oflBice, 
by seizing the censer and lifting up the incense, '^ Praise 
the Lord, my soul, and all that is within me, praise and 
bless his holy name." 

In taking a retrospect of this year, however, that is now 
closing, we. may look at it not only personally, domes- 
tically, but also nationally. And have we no mercies to 
recapitulate here ? The retrospect of our national history 
in 1848 should electrify every enlightened mind and right 
heart in this congregation. Almost every nation around 



THE END OF THE YEAR 1818. 325 

US has rocked and been convulsed by the vibrations of suc- 
cessive earthquakes. In Paris, Vienna, and Berlin, the 
streets have been stained with the blood of slaughtered 
citizens, and an a^vful spirit seemed to have risen from 
beneath and entered men's hearts, that made citizens feel 
and call it glory when they murdered their fellow-citizens. 
But it has not been so with us. Our country, while all 
was eclipse around, has basked in the sunshine ; our queen 
reigns in the royal affections of -her people ; our throne 
remains like an Alp or an Apennine, with nothing but the 
Rock of ages beneath it; and our Sabbaths still retain 
their sacredness ; our sanctuaries still retain their quiet. 
While the nations around us were sounding funeral dirges 
over national and individual calamities, one of the greatest 
Missionary Societies of the kingdom was meeting, with 
donations from the queen, as expressive of her sympathy 
with evangelical religion, to sing their Jubilee, and com- 
memorate God's mercies in the past. And our country is 
the only asylum for refugee kings and princes of the earth ; 
and why? it is the only one that can afford to be so. Other 
countries would feel that it was an explosive element coming 
within them, to rend_ their artificial fabrics. Why is this ? 
Because liberty, light, and love prevail in the midst of us ; 
and I am sure the reader will concur with me, when I say, 
notwithstanding all its sins and imperfections, I still love 
this old country of ours. I do not see that a Christian 
ceases to be a patriot. I would pull down not one rafter, 
or stone, or timber in the midst of it ; I would purify all, 
I would reform all, I would cleanse all, but I would pull 
down nothing but sin, and the devil, and Popery ; and if 
these are pulled down, and true, living religion prevail and 
predominate in the midst of us, our land will be in 1852 
what it has been in 1848. What has made it so? Never 
forget this, it is the living Christianity of its people. And 

II. SER. 2S 



826 FORESHADOWS. 

oh ! I do pray that evangelical and vital religion may more 
and more surround us, reaching to the highest, descending 
to the lowest, embracing all. I pray that it may sustain 
the throne, and guide the whole tone of our national, our 
social, our domestic, and our personal feelings; and then, 
if we are a religious people, depend upon it that neither 
the mob in the o^jopa^ nor the autocrat upon his throne, nor 
sedition's trumpet, nor the tyrant's rod, nor any other 
enchantment, shall prevail against Jacob, or any divination 
against Israel. Righteousness exalteth a nation ; sin is 
the ruin of any people. Nor should I commemorate 
fully the mercies of the past year, if I did not think of our 
national mercies. Read the Old Testament, and see hoAV 
much of the Jews' nation was in the Jews' religion, and 
how much of the Jews' religion in the Jews' nation. 

Let us feel thankful then for our personal, thankful for 
our domestic, thankful for our congregational, thankful for 
our national mercies; and if we are not thankful, depend 
upon it that we shall not long enjoy them. I believe there 
is a great sin prevalent among many true Christians ; they 
are eloquent in asking for mercies, they are dumb in prais- 
ing God for them when they have obtained them. Now, 
I believe that he will not be long a possessor of great pri- 
vileges who is an unthankful possessor of them. Our 
suffering should make us humble, our mercies should make 
us thankful, and both should lead us to God. 

I have thus taken a retrospect of the past year ; let me 
now take, if possible, a prospect of the year to come. 
What becomes us in the prospect of it ? Confidence in God, 
courage, bright hopes ; and for these very simple reasons : 
The sailor feels confidence in the ship that has borne him 
oftenest across the billows : our religion, our Bible, our 
Christianity, are tried to us, tried in every storm, and 
stress, and pressure, and vf e have confidence in them ; and 



THE END OF THE YEAR 1848. 327 

I believe that confidence and courage and hope become us 
on this ground, if there were no other, that the God of 
1848 (just recollect this) will also be the God of 1852. It 
is not an idol that may be swept away from his niche that 
we worship, but the living God, who is the same to-day 
that he was yesterday, and will be in the accumulating 
cycles of eternity. In future years afflictions will come : 
I should be disguising truth, if I did not state it : but 
manfully meet them, and in God's strength triumph over 
them. Doubts will arise ; but what is divine strength 
given us for, but to discharge the duty that devolves upon 
us, in the strength of Ilim that commanded it. Regard 
God's goodness in the past as an augury of his goodness 
in the future. This is not what we are prone to do. It 
is not what I am often prone to do. We are very apt to 
look into the future, and imagine troubles and afflictions 
that may never come. Now, let us cease to do so. Let 
us cease to cast imagination like a dragnet into the sea 
of the future, and gather into our bosom all sorts of ve- 
nomous reptiles, that may sting us to the quick, and ex- 
haust us of our very lifeblood. ^'Sufficient for the day is 
the evil thereof." ''Take no thought," i, e. no iJ.tp'-irm^ no 
perplexing, anxious thought, "for the morrow, but let the 
morrow take thought for the things of itself." He who 
has been with you in the past, will be with you in the 
future. Be thankful for the clear bright stream while it 
runs : do not be always diving to the bottom to see what 
is there, and troubling the stream w^ith mud. Be satisfied 
to sail upon the bright current while it lasts, thankful for 
tlie present, praising for the past, and hoping for the 
future. Half our complaints are about what is not evil, 
and the other half are about evils that may not come. 
Let us never forget that all things are in the hands of 
God. Let us remember that God will not send us too few, 



828 FORESHADOWS. 

too light, too short afflictions, as our carnal hearts would 
desire ; neither will he send us too many, too heavy, too 
long afflictions, as Satan would suggest ; but He will send 
us what is truly expedient for us : his omniscience will 
see all, his wisdom will direct all, his great love will in- 
spire all ; and thus believing, trusting, and hoping, we 
would look into next year, and thank God for the past, 
and take courage when we gaze into the future. 

But there are those in every place, who are not the 
people of God, whose hearts are not changed, who are 
still in their sins. The past year was given to you to pre- 
pare for God. It has passed away just as it began ; you 
began it without religion, you have closed it Vfithout reli- 
gion. Tour responsibilities are increased, your privileges 
are continued, your progress is nothing at all. But re- 
collect, that if you have not made progress in religion, you 
have not been stationary. There is no such thing as stand- 
ing still in the whole universe of God. Every thing is in 
action; every thing is in movement; and if a man's heart 
is not loosening from the world, spiritualized, sanctified, by 
the constant action of a preached gospel, by the blessing 
of the Spirit, that man's heart is hardened, his sensibilities 
become deader, his sensibility of impression becomes less. 
The man who has braved the appeals of Christianity last 
year, will brave them still more easily in the next. So 
then, while you have not made progress in the gospel, you 
have not been stationary, you have been retrograding; and 
last year has gone like a messenger to the skies, depositing 
there its record of what you were, what it found you, and 
what it has left you. Let me beg you to recollect this 
day this truth, in the retrospect of the past, " The blood 
of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin;" and let me impress 
upon you this day for the year that is to come, '^ Seek first 
the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all other 



THE END OF THE YEAR 1818. 329 

things sliall be added unto you." I need not tell you that, 
speaking after the manner of men, the probability that you 
mil die next year is much greater than it was that you 
would die previously. Suppose a pebble is laid in one of 
a hundred holes ; and suppose that you have searched fifty, 
and have not found it; the probability is vastly increased 
that you will find it in the next; and if you fail to find it 
there, greater still that you will find it in the next. Again, 
some of you have seen ten, twenty, thirty, forty years; 
few only now remain. The probability is therefore vastly 
increased, that next year that stroke may come which lays 
the body in the tomb, and wafts the soul to the judgment- 
seat. I ask you, are you prepared for that day ? Realize 
this great fact, that each soul on earth will glow for ever 
with the glory of heaven, or burn for ever in the misery 
of hell ! Do we feel this solemn fact, that the soul of every 
man is a bud that will unfold itself in perpetual blessedness 
or in perpetual wo? that it is a spark from heaven, that 
shall burn with celestial splendour, or blaze with the flames 
of a fire that is not quenched for ever and ever? And then 
from thunder, and voices, and tempest, from revolution and 
a great earthquake, from afiliction and prosperity, from all 
points of the compass — ten thousand voices shout, what I 
pray God may imprint upon all our hearts, ^' What shall it 
profit a man if he gain" — what is very problematic — ''if 
he gain the whole world, and" — what is very certain — 
''lose his own soul?" Many have an idea that seventy 
years is the period of man's life. What a great mistake 
is this ! It has been calculated that the average number 
of years given to every man for active exertion, are twenty 
years. Some twenty years you spend in childhood, boy- 
hood, and preparation; the great majority are cut oft* be- 
fore fifty years ; and if you live to that age you have only 
had about twenty years for positive, active exertion. A 

28* 



330 FORESHADOWS. 

year therefore in a man's biography is a very large portion 
of it indeed, and the departure of one portion so large, 
and the advent of another portion which will be still more 
momentous, should solemnize every one that knows these 
things, and lead him in prayer to that throne of grace, from 
which alone saving and sanctifying influence can come. I 
know that we calculate in this way, that we have a stock 
of life. Men are so accustomed in this great commercial 
city to calculations and commercial arrangements, that they 
apply to things to which they are totally inapplicable, the 
principles of their commerce. A young man will tell you, 
'^I have a stock of life." You can lay up as much money 
as will last you for a year ; but you cannot lay up so much 
life. There is no such thing as a stock of life. It is, 
^^ Give us each day the daily supply." God gives to a man 
life for to-day, but not one particle of life for to-morrow. 
It rests with the sovereignty of God. There is no such 
thing, therefore, as a capital or stock of life. And thus 
does the Holy Spirit say, "Go to now, ye that say, To- 
morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a 
year, and buy and sell, and get gain. "Whereas ye know 
not what shall be on the morrow." 1852 may probably 
summon some in this assembly, as 1848 has done, to the 
judgment-seat of Clirist. I ask you, are you realizing it? 
are you feeling this ? How does it stand with you this 
day? Shall 1852 be treated like its predecessors? Shall 
you be rich, and increased in goods, and poor toward God? 
Shall the kingdom of God be the secondary thing, and the 
kingdom of this world the great, the absorbing object of 
your life ? Fix your heart upon spiritual things first, and 
you will find, that instead of expending upon them energy 
that you might employ upon temporal things, you will have 
more energy for the temporal when you have first made 
sure of the eternal. True religion is not asceticism: God 



THE END OF THE YEAR 1818. ^;ji 

does not desire that his creatures should be unhappy. On 
the contrary, God delights to see his people happy. Hap- 
piness is as much the fruit of the gospel as holiness; and 
I am certain that no young man will so faithfully discharge 
the duties of his office, and no old man so well meet the 
difficulties that surround him, as he will whose heart and 
treasure are beyond the skies, whose faith is in the Lamb 
of God, and whose life is the life of Christ in his heart. 

^'The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sins." 
There is not one soul that reads this that need not at this 
moment realize it. There is not one sin in one sinner^s 
biography from which it will not cleanse. Have recourse 
to it. Let the prayer arise from each heart, ^'Lamb of 
God, that takest away the sins of the world," take away 
mine. Holy Spirit who givest a new heart, give me a new 
heart. Teach me to do thy will, and, by thy grace, if past 
years have been wasted, future shall not. If I have for- 
gotten thee in the past, I will cleave to thee in the future. 
Make the experiment. Go out to do Cresai-'s work in 
Christ's strength, and you will find that you are sufficient 
for all that lies before you in the world. 

These words were addressed to my people, as they indi- 
cate, at the close of 1848. What a year of trembling and 
fear of heart was 1849 ! What a startling trumpet-voice 
w^as uttered forth by the Romish aggression of 1850 ! What 
a year of brilliancy, I hope not a brilliancy that precedes 
decay, has 1851 been ! The year 1852 is noAV approaching 
as a strong man to run a race. Who dares conjecture, as 
he foresees its complicated questions and parties, especial!}'- 
abroad, what portentous events it is big with? This how- 
ever is our peace — the Lord rcigneth in 1852. 



332 



LECTUKE XX, 



THE LAST RECKONINU. 



For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called 
his own servants, and delivered unto them> his goods. And unto one he gave 
five talents, to another two, and to another one ; to every man according to 
his several ability; and straightway took his journey. Then he that had 
received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other 
five talents. And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two. 
But he that had received one went and digged in the earth and hid his lord's 
money. After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth 
with them. And so he that had received five talents came and brought other 
five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents : behold, I have 
gained beside them five talents more. His lord said unto him. Well done, thou 
good and faithful servant : thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will 
make thee ruler over many things : enter thou into the joy of thy lord. He also 
that had received two talents came and said. Lord, thou deliveredst unto me 
two talents : behold, I have gained two other talents beside them. His lord 
said unto him, "Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful 
over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things : enter thou into the 
joy of thy lord. Then he which had received the one talent came and said, 
Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not 
sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed : and I was afraid, and 
went and hid thy talent in the earth : lo, there thou hast that is thine. His 
lord answered and said unto him. Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou 
knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed : 
thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at 
my coming I should have received mine own with usury. Take therefore 
the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. For unto 
every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance : but from 
him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. And cast 
ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness : there shall be weeping and 
gnashing of teeth. — Matt. xxv. 14-30. 

There is a somewhat analogous parable in Luke xix. 11 
-27; «^And as they heard these things^ he added and 
spake a parable^ because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and 



THE LAST RECKONINO. 333 

because they thought that the kingdom of God should 
immediately appear. He said therefore, A certahi noble- 
man went into a far country to receive for himself a king- 
dom, and to return. And he called his ten servants, and 
delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy 
till I come. But his citizens hated him, and sent a mes- 
sage after him, saying, AVe will not have this man to reign 
over us. And it came to pass, that Avhen he was returned, 
having received the kingdom, then he commanded these 
servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given the 
money, that he might know how much every man had 
gained by trading. Then came the first, saying, Lord, 
thy pound hath gained ten pounds. And he said unto 
him, Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been 
faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities. 
And the second came, saying. Lord, thy pound hath gained 
five pounds. And he said likewise to him. Be thou also 
over five cities. And another came, saying. Lord, behold, 
here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin : 
for I feared thee, because thou art an austere man : thou 
takest up that thou layedst not down, and reapest that 
thou didst not sow. And he saith unto him. Out of thine 
own mouth will I judge thee thou wicked servant. Thou 
knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid 
not down, and reaping that I did not sow : w^herefore then 
gavest not thou my money into the bank, that at my 
coming I might have required mine own with usury? 
And he said unto them that stood by. Take from him the 
pound, and give it to him that hath ten pounds. (And 
they said unto him. Lord, he hath ten pounds.) For I say 
unto you. That unto every one which hath shall be given ; 
and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be 
taken away from him. But those mine enemies, which 
would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, 



834 « FORESHADOWS. 

and slay them before me." And yet there are points of 
difference, arising from the different circumstances under 
which they were spoken, and the varied and distinct 
auditors to which they were respectively addressed. The 
parable recorded by Luke was spoken before Christ's 
entrance into Jerusalem ; that recorded in St. Matthew 
occurred afterward, and was spoken as he was seated on 
the Mount of Olives. The former was addressed to a 
mixed multitude, composed of all sorts and conditions ; 
the latter, as given by the evangelist Matthew, was spoken 
to his own immediate disciples, and has therefore all the 
beautiful peculiarities that might be expected from such 
and so confidential an address. In Luke's we are informed 
that not then was the kingdom of glory, but that a long 
interval must first precede its advent, during which we 
are not to fold our hands, and wait and wonder, but 
engage in active, ceaseless Christian duties ; and then, 
that at the end he would come and reward the faithful 
according to the riches of his grace, and destroy those 
who had acted inconsistently with their responsibilities. 
We are not therefore, he teaches, to suppose his death at 
Jerusalem was the defeat of the great end that he had in 
view; but, on the contrary, a step in its further develop- 
ment. The parable recorded in St. Matthew is much more 
simple and direct. 

In ancient times, slaves or servants were frequently 
employed by their master as artisans, and were allowed to 
carry on a trade upon their own account, the master 
supplying them with the capital they required for their 
business, and they giving him, either the profits, or the 
largest share of the profits that accrued. 

The '^man" in the parable is, beyond all doubt, the Son 
of man ; a name that appropriately expresses the relation- 
ship of Jesus to us, and our relationship to him. He is 



THE LAST TvECKONING. 335 

connected with us by all tlic ties, the bonds, and sympa- 
thies of humanity. He redeems, he governs, he saves, 
and glorifies us as God ; and sympathizes with us fellow 
man. In his condition upon earth, he speaks of himself 
invariably as the Son of man ; in his glorious state, in the 
true, holy place, not made with hands, he describes him- 
self in the august and impressive language, " I am Alpha 
and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the 
end." 

'^Tlie far country'' here referred to is that spoken of 
by Isaiah the prophet — "the land that is afar off*' — the 
Holy Place, from which sin has projected us to an almost 
infinite distance, a chasm being created between us and 
the holy place where God reigns, which no wings that man 
can put forth can enable him to cross, and no human feet 
can wade. Had not Christ come from it to us, we had 
never known the way, or travelled along it to heaven. 
The first movement was made on his part toward us, and 
our movement is wholly responsive to his. We are morally, 
rather than physically, far off. So far off are we from its 
happiness, and holiness, and bliss, that neither genius, nor 
wealth, nor science, nor sail, nor wing, can ever help us to 
draw near to God, and reconstitute ourselves in our for- 
feited happiness and relationship. But we may be brought 
so near by grace, that the humblest child in the ragged 
school, or the greatest of sinners, believing and repenting, 
may touch its shores, having travelled along the new and 
living way thither. 

The parable informs us that the Son of man delivered 
his "goods" to his servants. There arc two classes of 
goods — spiritual and natural — both the sovereign gift of 
God. On the day of Pentecost there was a magnifi- 
cent and visible bestowal of rich endowments upon the 
church of Christ. Before this, the state of tho apostles is 



836 FORESHADOWS. 

delineated in John xx. 22, 23, where their wants were 
filled: ^'When he had said this, he breathed on them, and 
saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost : whose soever 
sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them ; and whose 
soever sins ye retain, they are retained." Subsequent to 
this, in Ephesians iv. 8-12, <^^ Wherefore he saith, When 
he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave 
gifts unto men. (Now that he ascended, what is it but 
that he also descended first into the lower parts of the 
earth ? He that descended is the same also that ascended 
up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.) 
And he gave some, apostles ; and some, prophets ; and 
some, evangelists ; and some, pastors and teachers ; for the 
perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for 
the edifying of the body of Christ." Every minister of 
the gospel has received gifts and talents ; every Christian 
has received the talent of speaking, or acting, or ruling, 
or teaching. None are absolutely destitute ; each man 
has something which by nature or grace he may turn 
to good account, and for the use, or abuse, or misuse of 
which he is answerable to God. Natural gifts are dis- 
tinctively from God. There is not a power, nor a posses- 
sion, nor a privilege that we enjoy, that is not a talent ; 
and there is not a talent, minute or otherwise, which 
may not be sanctified to the Master's use, and de- 
voted to his glory. There is no one talent that was not 
originally bestowed by him as a free, and sovereign, and 
unmerited boon; and whatever be the point of our su- 
periority one to another, that which makes us superior is 
not ours absolutely: it is a sovereign gift, a divine steward- 
ship, a trust, and therefore an element of responsibility. 
There is nothing common or unclean in the Christian dis- 
pensation. If the offerer be a Christian, whatever he has 
wull be a meet offering to God. Is your talent wealth ? It 



THE LAST RECKONING. 337 

is an element of power ; it may be hoarded, and so become 
a corroding and irritating evil within you, augmenting 
your misery, and diminishing your happiness every day. 
Time will rust it, and God will curse it, if it be not de- 
voted in its measure to the good of others and to the 
honour of him that gave it. But this talent may be trans- 
muted by grace into food for the hungry, raiment for the 
naked, religious instruction for the ignorant. Bibles for 
those who have none, missions to those who know not the 
gospel ; and the possessor of it will realize the fulfilment of 
the promise, " There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth ; 
and he that watereth others, shall be watered himself." 
Is your talent rank or dignity ? It may be lent to dissipa- 
tion, indolence, frivolity, and crime. It may be dese- 
crated to gild corruption, and so spread it ; to uphold 
error, and so injure the souls of mankind. Or it may be- 
come a precious patroness of every eflbrt of beneficence, 
and associate itself wuth every religious and missionary 
movement, and acquire by this employment additional 
beauty, and prove to the enemies of our social order that 
the aristocracy of our country is not a useless sinecure, 
but a sacred trust, found true to its responsibility before 
God and man. Is it intellectnal strength, pre-eminence, 
and knowledge that constitute your talent? You may 
expend it in writing the frivolous novel, in catering to a 
diseased appetite, in upholding a mere party, in writing or 
speaking in the direction of the largest bribe, in acquiring 
pre-eminence on the turf or at the card-table, in betting 
and such like things, where superiority of talent is the 
measure of the shame and the degradation of him that has 
it. But, on the other hand, you may employ it in re- 
dressing the wrongs of the sufferer, in vindicating the 
rights of the down«trodden, in improving the social and 
moral condition of mankind, in useful inventions, in up- 

II. SER. 29 



338 FORESHADOWS. 

holding a pure and elevated literature, in the pulpit or on 
the platform, in promoting the honour of Grod, and in 
making men happy here and hereafter. 

Unto one, it is said, he gave five talents. This does not 
mean giving according to the measure of faith, for faith 
itself is the gift of God ; but it does mean giving ac- 
cording to our natural or spiritual capacity. Individual 
character is the groundwork of the gift. It does not im- 
ply that there are three vessels, each of the same capacity, 
and that to the one are given five talents, and to the se- 
cond two, and to the third only one. In such a case there 
would be deficiency in two. But it teaches, that to the 
largest is given five — exactly the number which it can 
contain; to the next two — its appropriate measure; and 
to the last one — equal to its contents ; and all, whether 
one, two, or five, are given in sacred trust, to be rendered 
an account of to Him that gave them. Thus, the trust is 
not too little, or too light, lest it should be despised ; it is 
not too much, or too heavy, lest it should weigh down ; it 
is just what each is able, if only he be w^illing and faithful, 
to use to the glory of God, and to the good of mankind. 

Two of those thus intrusted laid out their talents. They 
felt that they had received from the great Giver a solemn 
trust. The goodness of the Giver, as expressed in the 
gift, kindled gratitude in those who received it. They felt 
a responsibility; but a joyful responsibility. They there- 
fore turned them to account ; and having good, they did 
good ; and possessed of power, they did their best to con- 
secrate it to a right use. He, however, who had only one 
talent, buried it in the earth, that is, made no use of it. 
This did not arise from the fact, which was not the case, 
that his talent differed from that of others, and was there- 
fore incapable of increase. It was not because he had no 
opportunity of turning it to account, or no inherent energy 



THE LAST RECKONING. 339 

of action able to do so. It was not because he had no in- 
telligible instructions ; for this is not pleaded. Christ dis- 
tributed in the exercise of sovereignty, and each is respon- 
sible, not for the amount he receives, whether five talents, 
two talents, or one, but only for the practical use to which 
he turns that which he has received. 

At the end, we read, that the lord of those servants 
came and reckoned wuth them. The two had received the 
talents as free and unmerited gifts, and, acting under the 
inspiring influence of gratitude and love, had turned them 
to the most successful account, met their lord in the judg- 
ment, just as they had met him in grace, with alacrity and 
joy, and gave to him an account of their stewardship. 
One says, ^<^Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: 
behold, I have gained beside them five talents more." 
Grace bestowed, and diligence inspired by grace gained. 
So Paul speaks, ''1; yet not I, but the grace of God that 
was in me." In Luke it is written, ^' Thy pounds have 
gained;" but in either case, whether as recorded in the 
Gospel of Matthew, or in that of Luke, there is no pre- 
tension to merit implied in their account. Our capital is 
not our own ; our health and strength are not our own ; 
and whereunto we have attained, and whatsoever we have 
gained, are entirely, from first to last, by the distinguish- 
ing grace of Him who makes us to diff*er, and who gives 
us grace to put our talents to their legitimate and proper 
use. The name and superscription of the great Lord and 
Owner of heaven and earth, are legible on all we are and 
on all we have ; and the source of the largest and the 
smallest boon, traced rightly, will find its spring in the 
throne of grace. The last, hoAvever, who appears before 
the Son of man, gives a very different account of himself. 
At first one might think there was something plausible in 
his apology ; so little was given him, that one might think 



840 FORESHADOWS. 

very little might have been expected of him ; and of little, 
little good can be done ; and besides, he argues, what seems 
very reasonable, that he had a severe and exacting lord, 
and that therefore, on the whole, he consulted best his own 
good by hiding it out of sight. This is a totally distinct 
character from the unjust steward, who wasted his master's 
goods, or from the prodigal, who spent his father's endow- 
ment in riotous living. This parable contains instruction, 
not for the reckless that scatter, nor for the infidel that 
denies ; but for the professor, who has a talent of some 
sort, an element of power of greater or less capability; 
but refuses, through mistaken views, or indolence, or 
shame, or some other unsatisfactory reason, to make a 
right and diligent use of it. Let us then feel that, how- 
ever little the talent may be, whether it be a little time, a 
little genius, a little money, a little influence, or a little 
character, or a little opportunity, it is given us by God, 
Avho expects its improvement ; and that we are responsible 
for the right use of the talent that we have, and not for 
any other talent that others have. It will not do to say, 
'^ My own salvation is so important, and my own soul so 
precious, that I have nothing to spare for the instruction 
of others." This is not Christian language ; it is not rea- 
sonable ; it is not true. The intensest sympathy with the 
wants of others is compatible with the intensest anxiety 
about our own. It is just the man who feels deeply the 
value of his own soul who feels most deeply and sympa- 
thizingly for the salvation of others. There will be always, 
at least, what is no less delightful, comfort within in pro- 
portion to the Christian energy that we exert without. 
But Aye see at once the secret root of the neglect of the 
talent that was given him. ''I knew thee that thou art anv 
hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gather- 
ing where thou hast not strawed : and I was afraid, and 



THE LAST RECKONING. 841 

went and hid thy talent in the earth : lo, there thou hast 
that is thine." Noav, this was a misapprehension, wilful or 
not, I cannot say, of the character of the Son of man; and 
upon this misapprehension was based the mischievous and 
ruinous course which the possessor of this talent pursued. 
He had no sense of God as the gracious giver of the bless- 
ing : he regarded him wholly as the stern and imperious 
exactor of duties. The secret of our fears, and our sus- 
picions, and the feebleness of our efforts, is very much in 
these words: '^I kncAV thee that thou art an hard man, 
reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where 
thou hast not strawed." An overpowering impression of 
God as demanding duties, and a feeble apprehension of 
him as bestowing gifts and blessings, is the secret cause 
of the deficiency that is so apparent in the response of 
men to the goodness of God. When w^e think nothing of 
what God bids, and think only of how much God gives, 
we feel gratitude toward him, and rejoice instinctively to 
engage in corresponding duties. It is pkin then, from a 
just analysis of this excuse, that the indolent party throws 
the blame on God. He declares that God reaps where ho 
has not sown ; that he w^as, in short, a Pharaoh, requiring 
bricks and giving no straw, imposing burdens and with- 
holding strength to bear them. This is a too common, but 
a most grievous, misapprehension of God, and its fruit is 
just what is here expressed — terror, he w^as '^afraid;" 
and its effect is what w^e here find — inactivitj^-^ indolence, 
and unfruitfulncss in every good work. It is just the alloy 
of such feeling that leads Christians still to shrink from 
all that they must confess to be obvious duty. Many are 
afraid to come to the communion table, because they think 
it is spread by one that reaps where he did not sow ; or to 
make a public profession of the gospel, because they think 
it is a hard taskmaster that demands more than they can 



342 FOKESHADOWS. 

render. Whereas, it has ever been found that he that in- 
spires one to undertake a duty, gives strength to do it ; 
and that the very willingness to do is a pledge and earnest 
of God's fulfilment of his promise, to give his strength to 
be made perfect in their weakness. 

He exclaims after this, " Lo, there thou hast that is 
thine." This is absolutely impossible: the talent was 
positively wasted, because it was unused : it is impossible 
to disuse, and yet not waste : how obvious is it, from his 
language, that an uncoverted man gives with a grudge ! 

The reply given to this servant was, " Thou wrcked ser- 
vant," as if the Son of man had said, '' by what you have 
stated, and judging by your own clear impression, you 
ought to have made the greater and the more laborious use 
of that which you knew I should demand from you. Out 
of your own mouth you are condemned : your own acknow- 
ledgment condemns you*: your own admission is evidence 
against you. Thou oughtest therefore to have put my 
money to the exchangers." A German critic makes the 
remark on this : " Thus timid natures, that are not suited 
to independent labours in the kingdom of God, are here 
counselled at least to attach themselves to stronger cha- 
racters, under whose leading they may lay out their gifts 
to the service of the church." 

The judgment pronounced upon him is, ^^Take the ta- 
lent from him." This is a natural as well as a penal effect 
of the misuse of what we were bound to turn to proper 
account. If we cease to use a limb, we shall find its mus- 
cles die away, and its strength utterly depart. Employ 
that limb, not beyond its strength, but according to its 
strength, and it will grow in vigour and vitality. Corn 
kept hoarded up in the granary, is soon destroyed; scat- 
tered on the earth and in good soil, it grows up into a 
golden harvest. Do we not see also in the providence of 



THE LAST RECKONING. 843 

God, a man diligent in business step into a place where his 
talent may be employed, and add to his own the connection 
of another who was careless and inattentive ? The hand 
of diligence maketh rich ; unused privileges are invari- 
ably soon forfeited. The way to accumulation is disper- 
sion. Would you be rich ; scatter to the claims of the 
poor. Would you be happy; try to make others so. 
Would you be great ; help every one up the hill. The oil 
will increase by effusion ; the bread, by giving ; for by a 
beautiful law, our own happiness is generated in the greatest 
degree, by our greatest exertion to make others sharers of 
it. This taking away is, however, a process, not a closing 
act of judgment. The wasting limb and the rusting iron 
are visible evidences of neglect. Intellect not drawn on, 
soon flags ; and privileges long neglected, soon pass away 
to others. 

The reward of grace is not, then, according to original 
endowment, whether that endowment w^as spiritual or ma- 
terial merely in its nature, because it was solely and wholly 
in sovereignty ; but it is according to the actual use and 
employment that we make of it. Every excuse that in- 
genuity can give for sloth is utterl}" worthless. There is 
no reason on the earth, why every man should not be 
active, diligent, and daily turning to account every op- 
portunity of doing good, or of receiving good, that occurs 
throughout the providence of God. 

The whole parable presents a very instructive cartoon 
of the future. We see by it what is before us. Lord, 
give us grace so to use the talents thou hast given us, 
that they may contribute to thy glory, and to the good 
of ail. 



344 



LECTURE XXL 

THE LAST DISCEIMINATION. 

Again, the kiogdom of heaven is like nnto a net, that was cast into the sea, 
and gathered of every kind : which, when it was full, they drew to shore, 
and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, hut cast the had away. 
So shall it he at the end of the world : the angels shall come forth, and sever 
the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire : 
there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Jesus saith unto them. Have 
ye understood all these things ? They say unto him, Yea, Lord. — Matt. xiii. 
47-51. 

This parable seems, at first sight, to be almost iden- 
tical in meaning and in import with the parable of the 
tares, but its identity is, in fact, more apparent than real. 
Each parable has certainly this one central and distin- 
guishing fact, that it is an exhibition of the mixture of 
saints and sinners, good and bad, tares and wheat, in the 
outward and visible corporation called the church of 
Christ. This one fact they have in common, and this one 
our Lord seems to have been anxious to impress upon his 
church and people, that indeed the visible church would 
not be identical with the true church, but would consist 
of good and bad, tares and wheat. But, notwithstanding 
this identity in one grand central peculiarity, there is a 
distinction of great practical value. In the parable of 
the tares and wheat we have the prohibition clearly an- 
nounced, that neither apostle, nor minister, nor synod, 
nor priest, nor anybody else is to root up tares under the 
mistaken idea of securing a pure church, lest in tearing Up 
the tares they should injure the wheat : and we have also 



TTTE LAST DISCRIMINATION. 345 

the other truth, embodied in the parable of tlie tares and 
wheat, that these should grow and mingle together till the 
harvest should come. In this our Lord meets the exces- 
sive purism, if I may so call it, which will not join a 
church unless it be a perfect one, which determines to wait 
till it find a perfect visible church, and so is doomed to 
wait till the Millennium. Never having joined such a 
church as can be found below, the prospect is dim and 
faint indeed that such will be united to that which shall be 
in the age to come. But in the drag-net, which is the pa- 
rable on which I am now about to write, we have the per- 
fect assurance that this separation shall take place. In the 
first, that is, the parable of the tares and wheat, we have 
the declaration that men were not to make the separation ; 
in the parable of the drag-net, we have the promise that 
God will do it. The first parable is designed to stay the 
hands of the rash ; the second is made to comfort the 
drooping and discouraged hearts of the holy. The first 
parable was fitted to forbid impatience, and to inculcate 
forbearance, tenderness, brotherly kindness, charity ; be- 
lieving all, hoping all ; yet rejoicing not in iniquity, but 
rejoicing in the truth ; rather erring on the side of sup- 
posing that more were Christians than there are, than err- 
ing on the side of supposing that fewer were Christians 
than there seem to be. And this last parable, again, w^as 
intended to cheer the hearts of the people of God with 
this bright hope, that if there should be a hypocrite in the 
church now, if there should be a loud professor with a 
very insincere heart now, if there should be much preten- 
sion and too little principle now, it will not be so always : a 
day comes when God, whose prerogative it is, will inter- 
pose to burn the tares, and to gather the wdieat into, his 
garner ; to cast away the bad fish, to collect the good into 
vessels : and then shall the righteous shine forth in the 



846 FOPvESHADOWS. 

kingdom of their Father. We thus see with what pro- 
priety and beauty each parable is constructed, and how a 
central and guiding point is always to be kept in view in 
quoting the parable. Certainly the tendency of both 
parables, of that of the tares and wheat, as well as that 
of the good and bad fishes, is to destroy the common idea, 
that to belong to a visible church is necessarily to belong 
to the true church ; — that to be baptized is necessarily to 
be regenerate ; — that to be related to a church that holds 
Christ to be its head, is necessarily to be a member of the 
body of Christ, and an heir of the kingdom of heaven ; — 
and that, in short, whatever prerogatives and attributes 
Christ asserts to belong to his living, true, redeemed 
church, ought, as alleged, to belong to any one visible 
church that men may think to be the best and the purest. 
Such an idea is the very germ and essence of Popery. 
The moment that a man comes to believe that there is a 
church which can speak through its bishops, or its synods, 
or its priests, or its presbyters, the very mind of Christ, 
and whose decision is the decision of the Spirit of God, it 
is something else than consistency which keeps him from 
saying that the Church of Rome is the mother and mis- 
tress of all churches, and that the pope is the vicar of 
Christ, and the head, under Christ, of the church universal. 
What does the apostle say? '^ The Lord knoweth them 
that are his." It is well that we do not always know ; if 
we did, we should perhaps worship some and anathematize 
others. We are told that there was a Ham in the ark, a 
Judas among the apostles ; we read of a Demas in apostolic 
days ; Esau and Jacob still struggle together in the womb 
of the visible church of Christ ; the tares and the wheat that 
were in the one parable, and the good and the bad fish that 
were contained in the net in the other parable, are still 
mixed up. Therefore it becomes us to make up our minds 



THE LAST DISCRIMINATION. 347 

that there will be no pure, no perfect church, no church 
identical with the true spiritual church in this dispensation. 
And this does not prevent us from seeking the communion 
of the purest church that ^ve can find ; it is perfectly 
proper to seek to join, not the nearest, but the best — not 
the oldest, but the most scriptural — not that which men 
canonize, but that which our own conscience and our own 
experience tell us are most blessed of God in convejang to 
our minds the light of truth, to our consciences the peace 
of God, and to our hearts the hopes of the everlasting 
gospel. And so when, having sought such a communion 
as this, we find it, we may not lightly leave it ; and if 
you find that you are not so edified in 1852 as you were 
in 1851, or that you are not so edified this year as you 
were last, do not say, as many do, it is the minister's 
preaching that is so dull, it is his sermons that are so ill- 
studied, and therefore you will not remain longer, you will 
take a turn in this chapel on the left, or that church on 
the right. Do you not see how quietly and undoubtingly 
you assume that the minister is at fault ? You take it for 
granted that it is the minister's sermons, and the minister's 
study, and the minister's feelings, and the minister's con- 
victions that are all wrong ; and very complacently assume 
that it is impossible that there should be more worldliness 
in your minds to exclude the power of divine truth, more 
absorption in the world preventing a heartfelt interest in 
the gospel ; or, which is very often the case, whenever a 
man falls into some sin which is dear and delightful to 
him, but which in his conscience he knows to be wrong, he 
will not remain long in a place w^here the gospel is most faith- 
fully preached. lie must go where he will hear peace, 
peace without, or there will be no peace at all within. 
Wherever and whenever the contest begins, at all hazards 
keep within reach of the truth of God, and, as soon as you 



848 FORESHADOWS. 

can, get rid of the golden wedge and the Babylonish 
garment, which alone interferes with your comfort, your 
happiness, and your peace. 

Having noticed the fact, that the visible church is thus 
composed of good and bad, and that we must not expect, 
in this dispensation, a perfectly pure church, and yet that 
we must not forbear to join ourselves to such as we can 
reach, though we are convinced that many things in it are 
not so good as we could wish them to be, just as we must 
not lay aside the weapons which do the work, because they 
do not do it so perfectly and so rapidly as we could desire, 
— I now proceed to examine what we read in this parable 
of the net which was drawn out, and in which fishes were 
gathered, good and bad. Those who have only seen what 
is called deep-sea fishing, on the southern coast of England, 
cannot comprehend the meaning of a drag-net, which is 
not a net cast over the stern of the boat into the sea,- but 
such nets as you may have seen in salmon rivers, or at 
the mouth of rivers which fall into a bay, such as the 
Tweed, the Dee, the Don, and the Spey ; these rivers fall 
into an open bay, and the nets employed are long nets, 
nearly a quarter of a mile in length; the lower edge is 
sunk with lead, the upper edge is floated with cork ; the 
fishermen take a sweep out, stretching the net from one 
point in the shore, and taking a sweep of half or a quarter 
of a mile to sea, thus going round, and bringing the other 
end of the net in again to shore, and thus all the fish 
within its sweep are dragged to shore for the fishermen. 
This is what is called the drag-net, which drags along the 
bottom of rivers, so that no fish can escape by getting out 
below, or leaping over above, and therefore all within the 
sweep must be drawn ashore. So, says our blessed Lord, 
it is with the gospel : the great ocean is the world ; the 



THE LAST DISCRIMINATION. 349 

ordinances, the preaching of the gospel, its ministrations, 
its means of grace, are the outspread and comprehensive 
net ; none are so deep that it does not descend to them, 
none so high that it does not reach them, none so bad that 
they are cast out, none so good that they are passed by ; 
it collects all, good and bad, clean and unclean, (for that 
is, I apprehend, the real distinction :) for under the Mosaic 
economy, all animals were divided into clean and unclean ; 
thus all those quadrupeds which divide the hoof and rechew 
their food were clean : and though that is a Mosaic regu- 
lation, it is an eminently practical one : so also among 
fishes, those fish were regarded as clean which had fins 
and scales ; and probably the distinction here is, not that 
there were drawn in reptiles, venomous and poisonous rep- 
tiles, such as might be found at the bottom of the sea, but 
fishes that were unclean, fishes that were half clean, and 
fishes that were clean, a mixture of all classes, were 
brought in and dragged to shore, both good and bad. So 
we are told it is with the gospel church. There will be found 
in it, as I have shown, good and bad mixed together ; men 
whom grace has reformed, men that corrupt nature still holds 
in her grasp ; men who have evidently felt the power of that 
religion which transforms the wolf into the lamb, and men 
who have not felt that power at all, but remain where nature 
left them, and as the curse scathed them, unclean, unholy, 
and unfit for God. It is no objection, therefore, to Chris- 
tianity, though some men have made it, that there are bad 
men as well as good in the church. How often do we find 
the skeptic or the worldling, when he is particularly anx- 
ious to get a smart objection to Christianity, or a reason 
for having nothing to do with it, quote such a person, or 
such a minister, who was a great professor and a good 
preacher, but who fell into such a sin, and say that is a 
reason for rejecting the whole? But I say that if there 

II. SER. 30 



850 FORESHADOWS. 

were no bad mingled with the good in the visible church, it 
would be an objection, and a valid objection; for every 
passage in the Bible which alludes to the subject, leads us 
to think that the visible church 'will be a mixture of good 
and bad, and the very fact of finding the bad in the midst 
of it is only evidence of the fulfilment of God's prophecy, 
that so it should be till the end of the world. But if there 
be good and bad, do not blame our religion. The gospel 
never made men bad; it is not fitted to do so; and to blame 
Christianity for bad men and hypocrites, is no more fair 
than to blame patriotism for traitors, or the mint for bad 
coin, or the Bank of England for forged bank-notes; these 
are things that happen to come with them, they are not 
the spontaneous result and efflux of the institution itself; 
so that the very objection argued against the reception of 
Christianity, instead of being a valid objection against it, 
proves how truly Christ and his apostles spoke, when they 
said that it should be so to the end. 

But w^hen the net is drawn to shore, the separation takes 
place. The vile are severed from the precious, the good 
are taken from among the bad; or, in the language of our 
Lord in that remarkable prophecy in the Gospel of St. 
Matthew, the ^'one is taken, and the other left;" or, ac- 
cording to the description of the judgment-day, the one 
shall be placed on the right hand, and the other on the 
left. At present, you cannot exclude A, and say that he 
is bad, because there are no visible fruits, nor can you point 
to B, and say he is absolutely good. Our province now is 
not to judge; but to spread the net, and draw all we can 
by the attraction of the gospel within reach of the sancti- 
fying influences of redeeming grace. " Now we see through 
a glass darkly, but then face to face;" now the life of a 
Christian ^'is hid with Christ in God." Now God's people 
are described as '^ God's hidden ones," and now the hypo- 



THE LAST DISCRIMINATION. 351 

critcs wear the same raiment, speak the same Shibboleth, 
express the same hopes, appear at the same communion 
table, are baptized at the same font, and therefore we can- 
not distinguish which is the good and which the bad, ac- 
curately, infallibly, and in every case. But the day comes 
when this distinction will take place : we read in the Epistle 
to the Romans, that a time comes, when shall be made ma- 
nifest the sons of God, a day when the true church of 
Christ shall be seen in its true and its absolute purity ; 
when the bride shall come down from heaven, prepared as 
a bride for the bridegroom ; when the New Jerusalem, in all 
its beauty, splendour, and imperishable glory, a thing of 
heaven, not a creation of the earth, shall be manifested here, 
and all nations shall come to the brightness of its rising. 
And so, when that discrimination takes place, " the good 
are cast into vessels;" '^n my Father's house are many 
mansions;'' ^'the wheat was taken and put into barns." 
There are the everlasting habitations of the New Jerusa- 
lem; and within are Christ's people, without are they that 
defile, and whatsoever loveth and maketh a lie. 

But the bad, we read, ^^were cast away." ^ How often 
that expression ''cast away," or ''cast out," is used m 
Scripture to denote condemnation! For instance, our 
Lord says, "Him that com.eth unto me I will in no wise 
cast out." We often attach to it the popular meaning of 
rejection, but in the Book of Revelation we read, "With- 
out are dogs," I e. unclean persons, sinners; and so this 
peculiar phrase runs through the whole Scripture to denote 
a state of condemnation. Again, our Lord says, '' He that 
abideth not in me is cast forth as a branch and is withered.'' 
Again, "The prince of this world shall be cast out." 
Again, "And death and hell (or Hades) shall be cast into 
the lake of fire." The word "cast out from the presence 



352 FOEESHADOV/S. 

of God/' is expressive of an amount of suffering, sorrow, 
and ruin, which nothing else can adequately embody. 

There is a very important inquirj^ here, who it is that 
makes the separation ? Our idea would be, judging from 
the spirit of this world, that the same man who spread the 
net would also make the separation. We have seen the 
net full of fishes ; we have seen the good put into vessels, 
and the bad cast again into the sea; and we would natu- 
rally conclude from reading this parable, that the fishermen 
will be the judges. But it is not so, for we read in verse 
40, «'So shall it be at the end of the world, the angels 
shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the 
just." We may see, therefore, that the great province of 
the ministers of the gospel, is not that of creating sever- 
ance or separation, but that of spreading the net and col- 
lecting the fishes. The phrase that ministers were to be 
fishers is frequently referred to in Scripture. The prophet 
Isaiah alludes to this peculiar function when he says, ^'Be- 
hold, I will send for many fishers, saith the Lord, and they 
shall fish them,'' i, e, collect them again. In Ezekiel we 
have the very same phrase, where the prophet says, ^'It 
shall come to pass, that the fishers shall stand upon it from 
Engedi even unto Eneglaim." We read again, that our 
Lord addressed the apostles and said, ^'Follow me, and I 
will make you fishers of men." We have the same idea in 
Luke V. 10, ^^And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not, from 
henceforth thou shalt catch men:" the constant application 
of the similitude of a fisher to the ministers of the gospel, 
denoting that this was their great function. We have thus 
this idea clearly set before us, that the ministers of the gos- 
pel are not suffered to pronounce the destinies and doom of 
the members of the Christian church, they are simply fishers ; 
and the less of the severer they assume, and the more of 
the fisher they act, the more they seem to me to have the 



THE LAST DISCRIMINATION. 353 

mind of Christ, and to live in harmony with the Avill of 
Christ. This is not the time to bring men before the throne 
of judgment, but to press them to come to the throne of 
grace. The pulpit is not the spot from which to discrimi- 
nate between persons, but to discriminate surely, clearly, 
and distinctly between characters and principles. We are 
now to go and spread the net, not to mount the judgment- 
seat. This is not the age for that: we are not the men 
for that. Be thankful that your eternal salvation depends 
upon no man's knowledge, upon no synod's decision, upon 
no minister's word. God alone can pronounce the doom, 
and what the minister has to do is to exhibit Christ, to 
proclaim salvation — now is the accepted time ; to beckon 
all sorts to the cross ; to tell them that none need be lost 
but those that will, and all may be saved w^ho seek salva- 
tion, ^'without money and w^ithout price." And it seems 
to me a function of the most delicate and difficult descrip- 
tion, that men whose lives are not notoriously corrupt, 
should not be admitted to the Lord's table; yet at the same 
time it does seem to me, that it w^ere better a bad man 
should be admitted to that table, than that one true child 
of God should be discouraged, depressed, and kept away. 
Having seen that the ministers of the gospel are the 
fishers, that this is their peculiar function : that they are 
not judges, but simply declarers of the truths that they 
are commissioned to preach; that their office, theologically 
distinguished, is not a judicial, but simply a declarative 
one ; — let me now observe, that angels are described as 
making this distinction, as I have showed already. The 
Lord is Judge upon the throne, and his officers are in 
every instance spoken of as the angels. It seems that they 
who have ministered to the heirs of salvation, are appoint- 
ed to occupy a post of some sort in the judgment of man. 
For instance, we read in Matt. xiii. 41, "The Son of man 

30-i:- 



854 FORESHADOWS. 

shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of 
his kingdom all things that oifend, and them which do 
iniquity ; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire : there 
shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." And so we read 
in chap. xxiv. 31, <^^And he shall send his angels, with a 
great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together 
his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to 
the other." I do not believe that our popular notions of 
the judgment-day are correct ones. We have an idea that 
it will be something like the Central Criminal Court — 
something like an assize in this world, where witnesses are 
to be heard, and where facts are to be tested, and where 
God is to pronounce on evidence. I believe that this is 
not the true idea. The moment that a man dies the bless- 
ing or the brand is fixed upon him ; he is judged already : 
the instant that a man departs this life there is fixed upon 
him visibly, indelibly, happiness or misery. Well then, 
what is the judgment-seat set for ? Not to try the man, for 
it is done ; but to ^liow before heaven and earth, angels 
and men, the broad universe itself, that all that God has 
done has been in justice, in faithfulness, in truth, and in 
love. When therefore we speak of the day of judgment, 
I do think we must not associate with it the notion of a 
day of twenty-four hours. It seems to begin at the very 
beginning of the Millennium ; when Christ shall come, 
God's people will be instantly gathered; the dead raised, 
and all forthwith happy. I believe that at the close of it 
the great white throne will be set, and from that throne 
sentence will go forth to determine the lot and eternal 
condition of the lost only. Thus the judgment is not an 
ordeal, but a visible manifestation of the fact that what 
God has done was done in love and truth; and it will be 
found, I solemnly believe, that it was not within the range 
of omnipotence itself to do more to convince sinners of 



THE LAST DISCRIMINATION. 355 

their ruin, and to bring them to Christ, than has been 
done. It will be shown that it was not within the reach 
of omnipotence to do more to bring conviction to sinners 
than God has done. We need no stronger proof of tliis 
than one single thought ; for instance, what can be longer, 
or more momentous, than an eternity of joy or sorrow; 
yet is it not fact, that this eternal motive may be brought 
to bear upon a man's heart, and yet fail ? Here w^e have 
the appliance of eternity failing to change a man's heart ; 
and I believe omnipotent power will not do it, because man 
is a moral, reasonable, intellectual being. He may be 
crushed into a hypocrite, or terrified into a maniac, but he 
never can be made a Christian by physical force, by mere 
power : it must be through the influence of God's truth, 
and as a response to God's love, and with a man's full 
consent, that he is <^ turned from darkness to light, and 
from the power of Satan unto God." 

Angels then are to be the officers, and thus the line of 
distinction is clearly marked between them and us. We 
spread the net ; they make the distinction : we gather all, 
and invite all to come, good and bad. The angels, accord- 
ing to the commission of Christ the Judge, separate those 
whom he has marked as bad from those which he has con- 
secrated as good. 

We see how completely this parable is in keeping with 
all the others which we find in this chapter. We learn, 
first of all, I repeat, that they are not all Israelites who 
are of Israel, that the visible church is not identical with 
the true church. That there are men who are ministers, 
communicants, baptized, who never were Christians. And 
so it will be till Christ comes, and the great decision is 
made. We learn, in the next place, this very important 
lesson, that all of us, readers and writers, are within the 
net. Are we among the good, or the bad fishes ? Are we 



356 FORESHADOWS. 

tares, or wheat ? I do not believe, I solemnly say, that it 
is so extremely difficult a thing, as many suppose, to know 
whether we are Christians or not. I cannot see how it 
can be so difficult : surely a man may know himself. It 
is difficult to pronounce truly on another — that is quite a 
different question — but surely a man knows whether the 
love of God is supreme within him ; whether to do God's 
w^ill in his aim, his effort, his end, notwithstanding many 
failures ; whether he can say. Lord, thou knowest all things, 
thou knowest that my predominating feeling is love to thee. 
Surely one may ascertain whether he trusts to that Saviour 
as the only foundation of his hope and confidence for time 
and for eternity. Surely he cannot be ignorant that he 
acts from right motives. Do you do a thing because it is 
very profitable, or because a great principle is embodied 
in it ? Do you pursue a course because it is very popular, 
or because you can see that God's glory, your own spiritual 
good, and man's salvation are involved in it? Look at your 
motives; look at the force of those motives, what they 
enable you to do, what they help you to triumph over, what 
they encourage you to meet and bear ; and you will then 
learn the reality, the depth, the substance of your religion. 
Let me add, that when this separation which is alluded 
to is made, it will be an eternal separation. No nets will 
be spread from the shore of the judgment-day; no rains 
v/ill fall and no sunbeams lighten upon the terrors of that 
day. The day of judgment is the time for apportioning, 
fixing, deciding. The day of grace is the time for being 
converted, saved, and sanctified. If men are to be happy 
for ever, they must be happy now ; if they are to be holy 
for ever, they must be holy now; if they are to be Chris- 
tians in eternity, they must be Christians now. Thus the 
separation takes place. And what a separation ! The 
nadir is not so distant from the zenith — the east is not so. 



THE LAST DISCRIMINATION. 857 

distant from the west — God's throne is not so far above 
Satan's — as the saved will be severed and separated from 
the lost. The wings of love can cross many a stream, the 
feet of love can wade many a deep in this dispensation, 
but there a great gulf is fixed, so that he who would come 
here cannot, and he who would go there cannot go farther. 
If these things be so, let all self-deceivers take care. It 
is astonishing that man, who is so sharp lest his fellow-man 
should deceive him, should be so blunt when he deceives 
himself. But so it is, that those who are so suspicious 
of the Christianity and goodness of every one else, rarely 
think of suspecting their own. He comes whose fan is in 
his hand, who will thoroughly purge his floor, and who will 
gather the wheat into his garner, but he will burn up the 
cliaflf with unquenchable fire. A form of godliness will not 
stand in the end. That you are baptized will be of no 
avail ; that you are a member of a true church will be of 
no use. The thing that will be sought for will be cha- 
racter — living, sanctified, holy. Christian character ; and 
wherever that is, be it in the Church or among Dissenters, 
be it at Rome or at Geneva, wherever genuine, living. 
Christian character is to be found, there is one on whom 
God will fix his seal, and say. Let this righteous man be 
righteous and holy for ever. Then, let it be the prayer 
of all that read these words, ^^ Gather not my soul with 
sinners;" and again, "Search me, God, and know my 
heart, try me and know my thoughts : and see if there be 
any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlast- 



ing. 



I have said, let all self-deceivers take care ; let all eccle- 
siastical disputants and religious controversialists take 
care. Deal less in anathemas, attempt not separation. 
Spread your nets; do not mount the judgment-seat. In- 
vite all men to the cross, fulminate anathemas against 



858 FORESHADOWS. 

none. Let ministers of the gospel be servants to do God's 
willj not severers to execute God's decrees. Let ministers 
rejoice to be servants, to do simply God's will, all casting 
the net, and not endeavouring to usurp Christ's place. 

And, in the next place, let all Christians learn to be 
composed. Be patient, brethren, until the coming of the 
Lord. Do not be discouraged because an unconverted 
man sits with you in the same pew, or appears with you at 
the same communion table ; do not be alarmed because 
some you thought guiding stars plunge into darkness. It 
is not a failure of God's promise, it is only a failure in our 
judgment and discrimination. 

Let us, in conclusion, take a review of the seven para- 
bles in this chapter. A great deal has been written upon 
them. Some have tried to show that they are a continuous 
chronological prophecy of what was to be to the end of the 
world ; but I think it has been shown that nothing of this 
kind was intended. At the same time each parable brings 
out a distinct truth of great practical importance. One 
parable states that a sower went forth to sow: here we 
have represented the propagation and progress of the gos- 
pel. In the parable of the tares and wheat, we have the 
external development of the kingdom of God. In the 
mustard-tree, we have a description of its progress through 
oppositions and difficulty, till it becomes a tree under which 
the whole earth finds shadow ^nd shelter. In the leaven, 
we have represented the work of the gospel in its silent 
and gradual progress. In the found treasure, we have the 
personal responsibility of the individual : how one who 
sees a thing of great value parts with every thing rather 
than lose it. And, lastly, in the parable of the good and 
bad fishes, we have a clear intimation, that however the 
good and the evil may be mingled now, God will separate 
them; and that it is not our part to pronounce and sepa- 



THE LAST DISCRIMINATION. "359 

rate, but to spread the net, to gather all we can within 
reach of the kingdom of heaven. 

And then our Lord asks, at the conclusion of these seven 
parables, whether his hearers understood these things ? 
The question implies that the meaning was designed to be 
understood ; and the question implies also that they are 
intelligible to men, if they will apply themselves to it. 
What was the Bible written for ? To be read. What is 
it read for ? To be understood. And what is the way to 
understand it ? To get new light to read it in, and a new 
heart to read it with. The Bible is, on the whole, the 
plainest and most intelligible book that ever was written, 
and from that arises the influence w^hich it has had, 
wherever it has been read and understood. And I do 
believe that if men would give to the Bible one-tenth of 
the trouble and care that they give to the reading of old 
manuscripts, and the interpretation of ancient authors, 
they would understand thoroughly the mind of God ; yet 
to enable us savingly to understand it, we need Him who 
inspired the Bible to teach us. A scholar may understand 
the Bible, as he may understand any other book, but the 
Christian feels besides a response in his heart to all that 
the Bible says. In order to understand the Bible, we do 
not need a new Bible, but new hearts ; we do not need 
God to add a commentary to what he has written, but to 
give us new and clearer vision, that looking at it in the 
light of his countenance, we may see in it the features of 
our Father, and in ourselves the simplicity, the confidence, 
and the peace of children. Very soon its pages will be 
spread out in everlasting sunshine, the map and the land 
it delineates lying before us. 



360 



LECTURE XXII, 



THE MIDNIGHT CKY. 

Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their 
lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, 
and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no 
oil with them : but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While 
the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there, 
was a cry made. Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. 
Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said 
unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise 
answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go 
ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to 
buy, the bridegroom came ; and they that were ready went in with him to 
the marriage : and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other vir- 
gins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say 
unto you, I know you not. "Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor 
the hour wherein the Son of man cometh. — Matt. xxv. 1-13. 

EvEBY one who is at all conversant with the peculiar 
language used in Scripture, will understand the nature and 
the reference of the parable, which is here so beautifully 
told. Christ is repeatedly represented, especially in the 
Apocalypse, as well as in Isaiah, and in the Gospels them- 
selves, as the Bridegroom ; and his church as the waiting, 
redeemed, and adopted bride. The picture which is here 
given, is drawn, of course, from an Eastern and an ancient 
marriage. Such marriages were always celebrated in the 
evening, or at night; and the practice was for the bride- 
groom, accompanied by his friends, or, as they are called 
in the gospel, '^the friends of the bridegroom," to go to 
the house of the bride, and bring her, accompanied by her 
friends, in pomp, and majesty, and glory, home. Some of 



THE MIDNIGHT CRY. HP)! 

her friends accompanied her from her own house, while 
others waited at a convenient phice, in order to join the 
procession, and add to its splendour and to their own 
happiness. The ten virgins here mentioned, are not those 
that accompanied the bride from her own house, hut those 
who were w^aiting at some convenient, central place, watch- 
«ing till the procession should emerge from below the hori- 
zon and approach, Avhen they would fall in and join it, and 
be admitted to the festival then celebrated, with the bride- 
groom and the bride, and their common or mutual friends. 

It is also very important to notice, that no one figure in 
Scripture exhausts the meaning of divine and spiritual 
things. It is plain, that the bride is properly Christ's 
redeemed church, and the five wise virgins would seem in 
this parable to be distinct personages, but really and truly 
they are a portion, if I may use the expression, of the 
bride, or the redeemed, holy, adopted company, Avho are 
making ready for the advent of the Lord Jesus Christ ; 
and it is only the necessity of the thing, or the poverty 
of human speech, and the inability of the human mind to 
grasp two or three ideas at once, that renders it necessary 
that there should be this apparent division. 

These ancient marriages, as I have mentioned, were 
celebrated at night, and lamps, or, as it should rather be 
translated, ^^ torches," were necessarily carried. There 
seems at first a sort of diflSculty here, because if these 
were lamps or hollow vessels, like the old Roman clay 
lamps, they must have had oil to burn at all ; but the 
truth is, they were not so ; they were torches, which were 
composed of linen, or lint, or other substance, wdiich of 
itself burned, but required to be supplied from another 
vessel with oil in order to make the burning bright and 
permanent. Hence it is said that some took their lamps, 
and took no oil with them; but in the 4th verse it is said. 



362 FORESHADOWS. 

that the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps ; 
showing that the oil was in another vessel, and not in the 
lamp itself. Thus, if we suppose that they were torches, 
they would burn for five or ten minutes without any oil at 
all, but unless supplied with oil from the lamp that ac- 
companied them, they would soon go out. We can tlien 
understand some of the torches expiring just when they 
were wanted, and the others burning because fed with the 
means of burning — namely, oil. 

The names applied to these virgins are frequently used 
in Scripture to describe what Christians should be. In 2 
Cor. xi. 2, the apostle uses this image to describe the peo- 
ple of God, when he says, '^For I am jealous over you with 
godly jealousy ; for I have espoused you to one husband, 
that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ" — one 
separated from all subordinate earthly and inferior attach- 
ments, and devoted with the whole heart and soul to one, 
even to Christ : not those who are so in the light of the 
Church of Eome ; for I need not say it is perfectly possible 
to be a Romish nun and not to be a Christian virgin ; it 
is perfectly possible to be mechanically separated from the 
world, and to be morally plunged in the very depths of all 
its sympathies, its cares, its passions, its prejudices, and 
its anxieties. The purity is in the affections, the separation 
is in the heart ; the devotion to Christ is not by dwelling 
in cloisters, but by being in the world, and yet not of it ; 
by discharging manfully all its duties, but having our heart 
and our treasure with Christ, where our treasure alone 
should be. 

The number of the virgins is stated to be ten. The 
reason of this number being given is probably this : It was 
a law in the ancient Mischnas, and Gemaras, and regula- 
tions of the Jews, that wherever there were ten Jews, there 
a synagogue should be built ; and this explains very beau- 



THE MIDXIGIIT Cr.Y. 803 

tifullj the condescending mercy in the remark of our Lord, 
^'Wheresoever [not, as in the old Law, ten Jews are met 
together,there shall be a synagogue, but wheresoever] tivo 
or tJij^ee are met together in my name, there am I in the 
midst of them." As the imagery is Jewish, the number 
ten is Jewish also. 

Having made these jDrellminary explanations on the 
structure and the imagery of the parable, let us endeavour 
to draw from it the lessons which it seems so well fitted 
to teach. 

First of all we perceive that all the ten expected the 
bridegroom ; all the ten professed the same creed, joined 
in the same communion, constituted, to the outward eye, 
the same consecrated, devoted, and holy company; but we 
read that they w^ere distinguished in the sight of God — 
and they were shown to be distinct in the evolution of 
their history — into two contrasting classes ; outwardly the 
same, inwardly perfectly separate. The first class were 
"^^ise, and the second foolish. We have an analogous use 
of these words in the reference to the two men — the wise 
man that built his house upon the rock, and the foolish 
man that built his house upon the sand. They are the 
wise, who seek first the kingdom of God and his right- 
eousness, that all other things may be added ; and they 
are the foolish, who seek other things, and miss both them 
and the kingdom of God and his righteousness too. 

Yet this is not a distinction of the head, but a distinc- 
tion of the heart ; it is not that the one was deficient in 
intellect, and the other abounded in it ; but that the one 
had a deficiency which was moral and spiritual, and the 
other an excellency which was spiritual, permanent, and 
saving. The Church of Rome in commenting upon this 
parable alleges, that the deficiency of the foolish virgins 
was that they had faith without works, and that this was 



864 FORESHADOWS. 

the reason why their lamps went out, and they were called 
foolish. But this seems absurd. I do not believe that 
there is such a thing possible as faith without works ; 
there may be a faith called so by man without works, 
but not real faith. We might as well speak of the sun 
without light, of a fire without heat, as of faith without 
works. A faith without works is not faith, but absolute 
faithlessness, incredulity, and unbelief. Wherever there 
is living faith planted by the Spirit of God in a living and 
regenerated heart, there there is a spring, a fountain, a 
source of whatsoever things are pure, and just, and honest, 
and lovely, and of good report. Then it may be asked, 
What is it that they were deficient in? I answer, the 
five foolish virgins were those who had the form of religion, 
and the five wise virgins were those who had the form and 
the life of religion too : the five foolish were they who 
were baptized from the same font, who sat at the same 
table, who read the same Bible, joined in the same worship, 
wore outwardly the same aspect, but had nothing within, 
the counterpart of that which was without : in other words, 
they had the form of godliness in all its perfection, but 
they were destitute of its power: they had lamps ex- 
quisitely chased, made of valuable material, beautifully 
bright and burnished, but there was no oil ; they had the 
outward form, they had nothing of the inward grace. 
Hence those foolish virgins might be likened to those who 
love the poetry and are charmed with the eloquence of the 
Bible, but who have no deep and responsive sympathy with 
its spiritual, its holy, and its sanctifying truths. They 
are represented by those who have a beautiful form, and 
are enthusiastically attached to that form, but have no 
under-current of genuine, spiritual, and living devotion ; 
or those who cleave to Christianity for its temporary 
beneficence ; who are the advocates of schools because 



THE MIDNIGHT CRY. 365 

tliey keep down criminals, and so preserve the great houses 
secure from the assaults of the poor, the degraded, and 
the miserable ones ; they are those who advocate missions 
and missionary societies, not because they go forth to save 
souls, but because they are fitted to civilize distant lands, 
keep the colonies quiet, and bring a richer revenue and 
larger taxes to the parent country ; those, in other words, 
who are outwardly all that constitutes the Christian, in- 
w^ardly nothing at all; they have lamps very beautiful, but 
they have this condemning deficiency — there is no oil in 
them. We have instances of such characters in the Scrip- 
tures. Simon Magus was baptized, professed Christianity, 
had the form of godliness, but was in the gall of bitterness 
and in the bond of iniquity. Ananias and Sapphira ap- 
peared devout, charitable, self-sacrificing, but yet they 
perished in their sins, from the presence of the people of 
God. And so there are still, in every section of the 
church, persons who are constant in the observance of 
every rite and ceremony, wdio are rigid exactors of con- 
formity to every ecclesiastical crotchet wdiich they may 
baptize as essential and vital. They are those who prefer 
sacrifice to mercy, ceremony to truth ; who make the ritual 
to be every thing, and the moral to be comparatively no- 
thing ; who speak divine words, but live no divine life, do 
not justly, nor love mercy, nor w^alk humbly with their 
God ; the men, in short, who do penance, but do not re- 
pent ; who macerate the flesh, but do not mortify its lusts ; 
who would fight for a church, a party, or a sect, but follow 
not Jesus either in the beauty of his character, in the 
preciousness of his sacrifice, or in the splendour of the 
hopes that he teaches. These men have a light indeed, 
but it is the phosphorescence of decay, not the light of 
truth ; they have a gloi*y indeed, but it is the evanescence 
without the brilliancy of the meteor, not the calm progress 



866 FORESHADOWS. 

of the ascending sun ; they own Christ to be ^^Lord, Lord," 
they have known him to be King, and Head, and Sove- 
reign ; they bow the knee at his name, and wind up their 
prayers with ^"^for his sake," and yet do not those things 
which he has commanded. Such are they that have the 
form without its power, who have lamps in their hands — 
making the world believe that they are Christians — but 
who have no oil to feed them ; proving before God that 
they are not Christians at all. Such ever has been, and 
such is still the composition of the visible church. We 
never ought to lose sight of this — that the visible church is 
made up of those who have lamps ; but within it — in its 
core and sheltered by it — -are those who have lamps, and 
wdio have, in addition to their lamps, oil also. Hence the 
visible church is composed, as we saw in one parable, of 
the tares and the wheat ; and as in another parable, of 
good fishes and bad ; or, as we see in this parable, of those 
vfho have lamps, and those who have lamps and oil too ; 
those that bow the knee, and those that bow the heart 
also ; those that have devout countenances, and those that 
have devotional hearts too ; those that are of Israel, as all 
are, and those who are Israel, as only the comparatively 
few are. Thus the visible church is a mixed company ; 
to man's eye, all look equally good ; to God's eye, the one 
class is perfectly distinguished from the other. We see 
thus how they all profess the same name, they all are look- 
ing for the same advent, and all, in their way, getting 
ready for that glorious advent. 

^'The bridegroom," we read in the parable, ^'tarried." 
What is meant by this ? He did not really tarry. God 
has fixed the hour of the Saviour's advent ; nothing can 
postpone it, nothing can anticipate it. He that shall come, 
we are told, will come, and will not tarry. And the reason 
why it is said that he tarries is, that he seemed to them to 



THE MIDNIGHT CRY. 3G7 

tarry: tlicy had prayed for his advent ; he came not at the 
tmie they expected ; therefore they believed that he tar- 
ried. Of that day and hour, we are told, knoweth no man ; 
but unto them that look for him, he m\\ come the second 
time without sin unto salvation. Perhaps these two classes 
of virgins represent the two classes spoken of by the apos- 
tle — namely, some serving the Lord, praying ''thy king- 
dom come," waiting for the Son from heaven ; and another 
class who say, " Where is the promise of his coming ? For 
since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they 
were from the beginning of creation." 

*It is recorded, in the next place, of the whole of the 
virgins, that " they all slumbered and slept." ''When the 
bridegroom tarried [or seemed to them to tarry] they all 
slumbered and slept." It is to be observed here, that this 
is the character, in this instance, of all the people of God, 
as Avell as of those who were not so. It is not said with 
approbation that they all slept ; it is simply stated as a 
matter of fact ; it is not said that God applauded the 
sleeping of the wise, or of the foolish; it is merely re- 
corded as an historical fact ; and we know that the hearts 
of believers may be overcome with the cares of this world. 
If they were not liable to be overcome, why those constant 
w^arnings that they should watch and pray, lest they fall 
into temptation ? It was the sm of the five wise virgins 
that they slept ; it was their mercy that they were ulti- 
mately awakened in time. The sleeping of the five wise 
virgins was inconsistency, the sleeping of the five foolish 
virgins was downright apostasy: the one was a sleep that 
was startled by the rush of the approaching wheels of 
the chariot of the Lord, and they that slumbered were 
awakened — and all was ready ; the sleep of the others was 
that of the world, which was startled by the same sound, 
but was followed by no fitness for entering in to the festi- 



368 FORESHADOWS. 

vities of the bride and the bridegroom. Let us cast off 
the works of darkness, and put on the armour of light. 
Let us not sleep as the world, but watch and be sober. 

We next hear, that while they all slumbered and slept 
(or, as it might be translated, ^^ nodded and slept") the 
midnight came, and yet the bridegroom had not arrived. 
At last there was a cry made, ^'Behold, the bridegroom 
Cometh." This cry was raised not by the bridegroom 
himself, but by the parties that sav?' him coming from afar. 
Parties who had no lot, or interest, or share in that festival 
— parties who were disconnected with it — may have raised 
the shout, ^^ Behold, the bridegroom cometh:" it was n^ 
the bridegroom's voice. And so when Christ comes the 
second time, there will precede his advent a cry loudening, 
and growing in fervour, in force, and in strength, ^'Behold, 
the bridegroom cometh!" And it does seem to me that 
that cry is now heard. What is meant by the intense in- 
terest that is now felt in the study of prophecy — intenser 
than has been felt for the last eighteen centuries ? What 
is meant by the fact that people will read on that subject 
now, who looked upon it with contemptuous scorn a few 
years ago ? What is meant by that rending and splitting 
of the whole social economy around us ? We cannot open 
a paper, we cannot hear the opinion of a statesman or a 
politician, without being told that the aspect of the world 
at this moment is more ominous, more terrible, more ap- 
palling, than it was twelve, or six, or eight months ago. 
What is meant by that deep sensation of coming dread — 
that failure of men's hearts^, that fear of things coming on 
the earth, shattered colonies, ruined estates, desolated pro- 
perty, all spots, except our own little island on the bosom 
of the deep, convulsed, agitated, rocked, unsettled ? I 
believe the shout that comes from it all is^ ^^ The bride- 
groom cometh." There is never a voice from heaven that 



THE MIDNIGHT CUT. 



ou; 



has not its echo on earth. Few can fail to notice the fact, 
that in increasing numbers of pulpits this cry is heard, 
and from various places this intimation is audibly uttered. 
It does appear to me, that a voice like that premonitory 
cry which preceded the advent of Christ to suffer, is now 
heard in many lands, and from many preachers. At all 
events we may learn this : if all cannot accept the chro- 
nology or the auguries of others, all are bound at least to 
accept the duty that the Scripture enjoins, ^' Watch and 
pray, lest ye enter into temptation." Let us not sleep as 
do others, but let us watch and be sober. The bridegroom 
C(^ieth. It is not said, the bridegroom will come, but the 
bridegroom cometh. His footsteps are heard, the voice of 
his approach is audible. 

When this was told to the virgins, they arose, both the 
wise and the foolish, and trimmed their lamps ; that is, as 
they were in darkness, each had recourse to that which 
was fitted to give light, and conduct them safely to the 
home and festival of the bridegroom. The foolish had re- 
course to their lamps, but discovered that they were empty; 
the wise had recourse to theirs, and found that they burned, 
though they had gone out, or had nearly gone out, as they 
had plenty of oil to recruit and restore them. The wise 
virgfiis found that they had life, and a fountain of it ; the 
foolish virgins discovered that their piety was all preten- 
sion, that their religion was but an outward mask, that 
their godliness was but the form without the power, that 
their Christianity was but a name, while they themselves 
were dead in trespasses and in sin. What an awful dis- 
covery to make at that day ! — when the darkness shall be 
densest, how terrible to find that we have no light ; when 
our need shall be sorest, to feel that we have nothing to 
sustain and to comfort us ; when a Saviour's blood shall 
be felt to be the only element that can give peace, and 



870 POrvESIIABOAVS. 

pardon, and happiness, to find that we have trusted to our 
own works, or to our own forms, or to our own ceremonies 
— in short, to a name by which we lived right honourably 
upon earth, but nothing more. 

The foolish virgins then said, ^^ Give us oil for 
our lamps, for they are gone out." This expression, 
^'gone out," shows that their lamps had burned a little; 
and it is somewhat analogous to the statem.ent in the 
parable of the sower, where it is said, that the seed that 
was cast into stony ground grew up speedily. There is a 
progress which is temporary, and a progress which is real; 
there is a devotion which is fed by the oil of grace, and 
a devotion which is fed from the manufactory of man's 
own heart. For instance, who can deny that in the 
Church of Rome, among Mohammedans, and among Hin- 
doos, there is devotion — intense devotion, concentrated 
worship, men that feel profoundly, and express feelings 
of adoration with intense and expressive language ? But 
what is its defect ? That it is a flame fed by wrong oil, it 
is a zeal not sustained by truth and holiness, and there- 
fore temporary ; when it is wanted most, then it is found 
most to fail. All fanaticism is false devotion, kindled 
from a vfrong altar, and sustained and nourished by a false 
element ; but all true religion is kindled from the"^true 
altar, fed by holy oil that will not expire in the dampest 
dungeon, or fail to illuminate by its imperishable splen- 
dours the world's darkest night. When the virgins said, 
'' Our lamps are gone out," they.asked to be supplied with 
more, but they were refused. Their lamps went out when 
they could not be rekindled, when there was no supply of 
oil to be had ; they turned round, therefore, to the other 
virgins who had oil, and said, '^ Give us of your oil." I 
mentioned, when treating of the parable of the rich man 
and Lazarus, that we had there an instance of prayer to 



THE MIDNIGHT CRY. 371 

saints — ^vhat the Roman Catholic church contends for — 
*' Father Abraham, send Lazarus to dip his finger in the 
Avater and cool my tongue, parched in this flame." But I 
stated that it was an unanswered prayer, and therefore 
not a happy precedent for such a practice. So here we 
have an instance of prayer to saints. The five foolish 
virgins prayed to the five wise, and asked of their oil, but 
they met with a denial, and for a very obvious reason — 
there is no borrowing of grace ; you may borrow a man's 
money, but you cannot borrow a Christian's grace. We 
can tell people, as these virgins did, ^'Go and buy of those 
that have it to sell;" we may tell the person that wants 
grace where it is to be had, we may direct him to the 
fountain out of which he may draw ; but no priest or 
person, no minister or man of any denomination or class 
whatever, can communicate grace ; the Lord the Spirit 
alone can bestow it. 

These virgins, we are told, gave as a reason why they 
did not lend their oil, '^Not so, lest there be not enough 
for us and for you." There are no works of supereroga- 
tion ; no Christian has more grace than he wants ; no man 
has more religion than he can make use of; and we shall 
find in the judgment-day, that when our attainments have 
been* greatest, and our progress in Christianity has been 
most advanced, we have yet much to deplore and more to 
be forgiven, and that we have nothing whatever to spare- 
But blessed be God, if we cannot spare the grace he has 
given, or communicate that grace to others, we may direct 
others to the fountain where it may be had freely, without 
money and without price. 

There is no doubt that the five foolish virgins obeyed the 
advice of the five wise ones, and went to see if they could 
buy oil; but we read in the 10th verse, <' while they went 
to buy, the bridegroom came." It docs not say that they 



872 FORESHADOWS. 

succeeded, but the contrary. ''While they went to buy, 
the bridegroom came, and they that were ready went in with 
him to the marriage; and the door was shut." There is 
no forgiveness to be had at the judgment-day, the throne 
of grace is superseded by the throne of judgment, the 
cross is then vailed, the fountain for nncleanness is then 
sealed, the sun of grace has then set. We have to deal 
at a judgment-seat with principles of strict justice — no 
longer to pray to an Advocate upon the mercy-seat for 
forgiveness and remission of sins ; the night has then 
come, when no man can buy, or work, or pray. How 
infinitely, how intensely important is it, that now, in the 
accepted time — now, while the light shines — now, while 
the offers of the gospel are made — now, while the greatest 
sinner may be accepted, and the greatest sin forgiven — 
that our hearts should, while that monosyllable ''now" 
measures the duration of our privileges, ask oil to feed 
us, and grace to help us, and mercy to forgive us in this 
our time of need ! 

The bride, we are told, was ready and went in. How 
beautifully does she sing in Isaiah, "I will greatly rejoice 
in the Lord ; my soul .shall be joyful in my God ; he hath 
clothed me with garments of salvation ; he hath covered 
me with robes of righteousness !" And*hovf beautifully 
is the picture exhibited in the 45th Psalm, "Hearken, 
daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear ; forget also 
thine own people, and thy father's house ; so shall the king 
greatly desire thy beauty ; for he is thy Lord, and worship 
thou him. And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a 
gift ; even the rich among the people shall entreat thy 
favour. The king's daughter is all glorious wdthin." 
Her beauty is not an outward splendour that man can 
create, and that man's eye can see, but an inner glory, a 
moral and spiritual beauty, which God alone can com- 



THE MIDNIGHT CRY. 373 

municate, and which is foolishness to the natural man. 
" She shall be broii2:ht unto the kin£2: in raiment of needle- 
work : the virgins her companions that follow her [here 
are the five wise virgins] shall be brought unto thee. 
With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brouglit : they 
shall enter into the king's palace. ['They that were ready 
entered in.'] Instead of thy fiithers shall be thy children, 
whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth. I will 
make thy name to be remembered in all generations : 
therefore shall the people praise thee for ever and ever." 

It is added, that when the bride had thus made herself 
ready, as we read in the Apocalypse, and the five wise 
virgins had been admitted to join in the festival or 
marriage feast, ''the door was shut." What door? That 
door that has now engraved on its lintels, "Him that 
Cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out;" that door 
which i^ now open, and so wide that the greatest sinner 
may enter, and yet so holy that no sin shall ~be tolerated 
w^ithin it — that door by which Ahaz entered after his 
idolatry, David after his adultery, Peter after his denial, 
Paul after his sanguinary persecutions — that door through 
w^hich men shall come from the east and the west, from 
the north and from the south, having" no claim but sin, 
and no merit but Christ's righteousness — that door now 
open for all, from wdiich there is no exclusion of colour, or 
sect, or party, or people ; by which there is admission for 
the greatest criminal, and forgiveness for the greatest sin ; 
into which, and through which, a Magdalene's first tear, a 
penitent's deep cry, and a criminal's last brpath may find 
admittance — that door noAV so wide, so open, so free, into 
which a thousand impulses drive you, and to which a 
thousand sweet voices draw you — that door into which the 
whole of Europe is now invited to enter, and all flesh to 
taste of the salvation of our God — that door was tlien 

II. SER. 32 



874 FORESHADOWS. 

shut ; shut for the safety of those that are within, for the 
punishment of those that are without ; a door that shall 
never again move upon its hinges to admit any that are 
without, or to let out any that are within. 

This is the true way of preaching the grace of God. 
I grieve to hear that many are beginning at the wrong 
end, trying to make it out that there is no eternal punish- 
ment to come — trying, in short, to lighten the darkness 
of hell, to mitigate its torments, and say its fire does fade, 
and its worm does die, that its darkness is not for ever, 
and its torment is not eternal. If, instead of wasting their 
eloquence in diluting God's truth, they would only expejid 
their eloquence in showing how wide, how open, how free, 
how accessible the door of the Saviour's sacrifice and me- 
diation is, it would be much better ; it would be true, and 
therefore it would be best ; for we may depend upon it, 
the more that we study what the gospel is — the more that 
one sees how complete salvation is, how free, how full ; 
the more that one thinks of this — that there is not one 
soul in London that perishes for any other reason upon 
earth, than that that soul will not be saved; the less one 
wonders that an apostle should say. If any man love not 
such a Saviour, so freely ofi*ered, let him be anathema. 
I do believe that the cause of many of our misgivings and 
disquietude, and doubts, and perplexities, is that w^e do not 
see, as I think I do see, how large is the mercy, how open 
the bosom, how sympathizing the heart, how earnest the 
reiterated welcome and the invitation of our Father and 
our God. What is the gospel ? Good news. What are 
the good news ? Not that you are to do something, or to 
bear something, or to pay something, but simply that you 
are to believe, '^ Christ died for the chiefest sinner, and 
why not for me ?" Not '^ why for me ?" but '' Avhy not for 
me? Am I to be excluded? And if so, why?" There is 



THE MIDNIGHT CRY. HTo 

no reason in the universe, in God ; the only reason is in 
the creature rejecting, doubting, disbelieving the great 
message of everlasting love and forgiving mercy for every 
sinner that seeks it, in the name and through the mediation 
of Jesus Christ our Lord. 

The foolish virgins, we read, having failed to obtain oil 
from the wise virgins, and finding the door unexpe(5tedly 
shut, made an appeal for its being reopened ; they prayed 
earnestly to the wise, but prayed without receiving any 
reply. Like the sailors, they had lost the tide ; like the 
husbandmen, they had lost the spring ; like the labourers, 
tbey idled all the day, and the night was come when they 
could not work. And now in their desperation, indicated 
by the repetition, they cry, ^^Lord, Lord, open unto us — 
us, who have professed they name, who have done so many 
things in that name ; us, who gave liberally to missions ; 
who were the advocates of Bible Societies ; who never 
stopped away from church because of a wet day, and never 
were absent from our pew because of a severe or a stormy 
one ; who have had every thing perfect, our lamps beauti- 
ful, their shape uninjured, their brilliancy as ^Yhen they 
were first made — Lord, Lord, open unto us." Once their 
prayer was a form, now it is a reality ; it was not heard 
when it was a form, because it was a form ; it is not heard 
now, when it is a reality, because the Mediator's censer 
has been laid aside, and the books have been opened, and 
the judgment throne is set, and the day of grace has 
passed away. How many will be at that door likewise, 
saying, " Lord, Lord, open us !" But the real question is, 
shall we be outside or inside ? What is our hope ? It is 
possible to determine now. At that door, but outside, will 
be the proud Pharisee, of whom I have spoken, with his 
broad phylactery, and his '' thank God" still sounding unto 
from his lips; to whom the Lord will say, '' Depart from 



876 FORESHADOWS. 

me, I know thee not." There too will be the haughty, 
proud, exclusive, and anathematizing Tractarian, who never 
violated a rubric in his life, who performed his genuflexions 
with the most excellent beauty, and after the most canon- 
ical prescription, and who believed, ^'the Church of God, 
the church of God are we." He will come with his bright 
and his beautiful lamp, having no oil in it ; and he too will 
say, '^ Lord, Lord, open unto us, we belong to the true 
church;" but he will say, '<- Depart from me, I know you 
not." And the proud pontifl" will be there, who held the 
keys of the kingdom of heaven at his girdle, and made 
saints and branded sinners at his will ; he will come — the 
supposed successor of Peter himself — demanding admission, 
not begging for it ; but the Lord will say to him, ^' I know 
the saints you have murdered, I know the victims that have 
suffered at thy hand, but you I know not ; depart from 
me, ye that work iniquity." And there too will be the ex- 
clusive, self-satisfied man, who had his Shibboleth, some 
favourite word, some distinguishing cry, something that 
made him to differ from the rest, to look down with con- 
temptuous scorn upon all who could not repeat his Shib- 
boleth ; he too will be there wdth his bright and bm^nished 
lamp, seeking admission : as such he will not be known. 
Those distinctions^ which blaze like wild-fires upon the 
platforms of this world, are not known there ; the only 
ground of acceptance at that day w^ill be that of those 
who have washed their robes and made them white in the 
blood of the Lamb ; who have no original claim but this — 
that they have been the chiefest of sinners ; and who have 
no moral claim but this — that he that knew no sin was 
made sin for them, that they might be made the righteous- 
ness of God by him. 

The midnight cry is heard. The Bridegroom cometh. 
Eighteen centuries which have cried from dens, and pri- 



THE MIDNIGHT CRY. 377 

sons, and dungeons, and inquisitions, and banishments, 
and fire, and peril, and sword, ^' Come, Lord Jesus,'* are 
about to receive the ghad response, ^'Behold, the Bride- 
groom Cometh." He comes to emancipate the slave, 
groaning under the lash of the so-called Christian slave- 
owner ; he comes to vindicate the rights of man, to re- 
dress the wrongs of bleeding and oppressed humanity; he 
comes to still the groans of this world, which has groaned 
and travailed in faith to bring nature to a noble birth ; to 
bring forth that for which nature groans — a glorious king- 
dom, a blessed inheritance, a city that hath a foundation, 
Avhose builder and maker is God ; he comes to restore all 
that has been ruined ; he comes to create a paradise where 
a paradise was lost ; he comes to lead the wolf to lie down 
with the lamb, and the leopard to lie down with the kid, 
to make the wilderness rejoice, to manifest himself to the 
sons of God, and to make all things new ; in that pierced 
hand which was nailed to the tree, to take the great sceptre 
of the universe, to be the true sea-lord and the true land- 
lord, and to take away from nature the ashen garments 
she has worn so long, and clothe her in her Easter robes, 
when she shall be brighter than at first, and her glory sur- 
passing that of her earliest days. 

Do we not see multiplying signs of his coming? I have 
alluded to the recent state of Europe — Pope Pius IX. not 
long returned from his exile ; Rome scarcely having ceased 
from casting its beautiful bells into cannon, and its com- 
munion-plate into scudi; the echoes of the cannon-shot 
of the French republic rebounding on the very dome of St. 
Peter's not yet hushed; the nations marching upon Rome, 
and the Russian thundering in their rear, and the Romans 
thirsting for the hour of retribution and vengeance ; — all 
tell us that Babylon begins to drink her judgment, and that 
the Bridegroom is about to come. Turkey, like a poor 

32v 



878 FORESHADOWS. 

bird in the talons of the Eussian eagle, quivers, bleeds, 
and struggles for existence ; and gives proof that the waters 
of the great Euphrates are about to dry up beneath the 
footstep of the advancing autocrat, and no less clearly, 
that the Bridegroom cometh. The Jews still sit loose to 
every land, driven from dissolving dynasties and capitals, 
and attest that the only country in which they get kind- 
ness is our own ; where it will be found, I believe, that just 
as statesmen have admitted them to a place in our parlia- 
ment, they will bid our statesmen farewell, and hurry home 
to Palestine. The American Jews are already possessed 
of a hundred thousand pounds, and are determined to raise 
it to a million, in order, as Mr. Noah has stated publicly 
in New York, to build a temple in Jerusalem, that shall 
eclipse Herod's and Solomon's combined in grandeur and 
magnificence. All Europe rests this hour on a volcano. 
The last eoup-d'etat of Louis Napoleon increases, not less- 
ens, the probability of the impending catastrophe. Every 
capital, from Moscow to Madrid, is convulsed and heaving 
with revolutionary elements ; Berlin, Vienna, Paris, Venice 
— all are in a state of dissolution and disorganization. 
Why are kings smitten from their thrones ? In order to 
make room for the King of kings, the Prince of the kings 
of the earth. Why was Antichrist, who calls himself the 
bridegroom of the church, driven from his capital? To 
prove that the true Bridegroom is on his way, and how 
frail the power of the pretender is. Why are the bands 
of society burst, and the bonds of churches broken? — 
churches torn from the state, and the state torn from the 
churches ? Why is this ? It is the proof of men thirsting 
for a beauty, a perfection, and a glory, and an excellence, 
which are not to be in this dispensation? It is God's true 
people shaking themselves loose from all restraints, and 
ties, and bonds, and making ready to hail the advent of 



THE MIDNIGHT CRY. 379 

that Bridegroom, for Avliom the widoAv's broken heart and 
the bride's fainting spirit have cried so long, ''Come, Lord 
Jesus, come speedily." The presentiment of that advent 
is in men's hearts ; the foretokens of it seem to be visible 
on man's Avorld. At all events, we know it must come — 
soon it will come ; and whether soon or late, let us have 
our lamps trimmed, oil in the vessels, our loins girded, and 
be ready to meet him when he comes. ''Blessed are they 
which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb." 



THE END. 



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